A Wrinkle in the Tree of Time
by telleroftails-weaverofdreams
Summary: What if the Tree of time did more than just display images? Can it change time? Time traveling AU. Btw, nothing in here belongs to me. I am but a lowly story warper. Oh, and this may be very OOC. Enjoy!
1. The First Flap of the Butterfly's Wing

a/n: First fic ever!

–

"NO! Let me out Unalaq!"

Korra screeched as she tried to tear away the rock from under her prison within the Tree of Time. But Unalaq's golden spiralling water cage, combined with Vaatu's repeated barrages of dark, purple energy made her too weak to break free. Struggling in the background, Kya, Bumi, and Tenzin were tied down with black loops of Vaatu's oily, fibrous webs.

Suddenly, Desna, Eska, Mako, and Bolin burst through the spirit portal. Immediatly, Mako released two fireblasts to free Bumi while the waterbending twins released Tenzin and Kya.

Upon seeing the betrayal of his children, Unalaq released a furious roar. His anger, corrupted by Vaatu's malevolence, purged all consciousness and judgement from his soul. Once again, he roared wrathfully and released waves of violet plasma towards Eska and Desna.

"ESKA!" cried Bolin as he dove and pushed her out of the way. However, he wasn't able to save himself or Desna. As they collapsed in a heap, Eska whipped around and attacked her father, narrowed eyes as cold and sharp as the icicles she shot. Then, Mako, Tenzin, Kya and Bumi threw their effort and elements back into defeating Vaatu and protecting their fallen comrades as well.

Unalaq-Vaatu smirked cruelly as their elements rolled harmlessly off his black skin. As he started shooting plasma again, Tenzin blew all the children out of the way in hopes of protecting them. As the children backed towards the Tree of Time, Vaatu saw an opportunity to break the children's spirit and keep them out of his way once and for all.

Slowly, he herded them into the tree of time with is purple light. At this point, Mako was the only one strong enough to put up any fight, struggling weakly to to protect his friends. This was quickly resolved when Vaatu beamed a violet emission that lit up the whole tree and drained all the children's energy. He then spun a violet cage around to trap them inside forever.

Then, he turned his attention back to Tenzin, Bumi, and Kya. The kids watched helplessly as he sucked their glowing blue life force out of their mouths. First Bumi collapsed, then Kya.

When Vaatu turned his attention to Tenzin, Korra weakly raised her head "Stop uncle, you don't have to do this! You can still be good! You-"

"**HA.**" sneered Vaatu in an inhumane, demonic voice "**Why don't you stop me. It is your turn to be imprisoned now, Raava.**" he laughed, removing the last vapors of Tenzin's life from his gaping mouth.

The grief of losing her mentor kicked Korra into the Avatar state. The tree glowed an ethereal blue and the ground began to shudder. The spirit portals started spinning and a surge of energy cracked the Tree of Time and the surrounding Earth.

Suddenly, the time stopped and everyone froze n silence, before the ground exploded with a blinding flash of white; pieces of spirit-earth flew in every direction, even through the portals, into the physical world.

That was the last that any of the children saw before their world was once again engulfed in darkness.

–

a/n: Hope you like it so far. Review!


	2. An Unlikely Couple

a/n: nothing is mine.

–

Meanwhile, Yakone walked through the marketplace in his Northern Water Tribe village, cursing under his breath as he looked for fresh turtle seal blubber. Tomorrow was his grandmother's birthday, and as terribly naggingly as she treated him, Yakone was still obligated to give her a good party.

"Stupid flubbering birthday. Stupid blubbery seal will probably give her a heart attack anyway." muttered Yakone petulantly.

Suddenly, he was hit in the back of the head with a rock. He eagerly whipped around to find who dared to throw it at him, itching for a fight. In the process, he tripped over the rock, slipped on a pile of discarded blubber, and slid head on into a girl who was working at the sea prune stand. The two of them slammed to the ground, tangled in each other's thick clothing and scattering the sea prunes everywhere.

Looking down, Yakone stared, open mouthed with wonder, into the girl's striking purple eyes for a full fifteen seconds before coming to his senses and clumsily scrambling off.

"I'm sorry!" He exclaimed, extending a hand to help the girl up. "Are you okay?"

She blushed as she took his hand and looked at the ground."It's alright"

They fell into awkward silence.

Yakone stared again, captivated by her deep, beautiful violet eyes.

"So, uh, what is your nam-"

"YOU HAVE PRETTY EYES. I mean you don't. I MEAN YAKONE!"

"Oh," she stated stiffly, fiddling with a thick braid, "My name is Auma, and I think you owe me some money for these sea prunes."

Yakone looked at her calculatingly, then he had an idea. "How about I give you money for half a pound of sea prunes and treat you to dinner twice a week for the next five weeks?" He said with a smirk.

Auma lifted an eyebrow, intrigued by his sudden audacity.

"Sure," she replied, "But you'd better impress me. Where do you live?"

"In a waterbent house with a polar leopard head on the east side of town. But I'll pick you up here after you're done working." He replied, strutting off with a wave. He didn't see Auma gazing pensively at his back.

Yakone walked home, whistling smugly. Then he stepped on a sharp stone and looked down; the stone was the exact shade of Auma's eyes. He pocketed it to use as a present for her, not knowing it was the thing that changed his entire fate.

–

AN: This chapter really sucks. Please criticize the crap out of it!


	3. Extreme Sledding

a/n: nothing is mine.

–

In the Southern Water Tribe, two young adults strolled around the outskirts of a cliff around their small village, looking for the first flowers of spring for their wedding.

"Hakoda! Look at these orange sunpansies!" said Kya

"They're perfect to line the isles," said Hakoda as he took out his whale tooth knife to start cutting them off.

Then, he felt a sharp pain on his hand. It startled him into accidentally dropping his giant knife off the cliff where he heard it land with a crack onto the frozen lake below.

"Crap," he swore as he slipped trying to catch it, missed, and landed inches from the edge. Fissures started to run from the lake up the face of the frozen precipice.

"Oh no!" exclaimed Kya as she hastily ran to help him up but accidentally tripped over a crack in the ground as well. She slammed heavily onto the ground next to Hakoda, and as a result, the entire face gave away into a massive avalanche. Thinking quickly, she grabbed the back of Hakoda's hood and swung him onto a flat chunk of ice.

The two of them sailed down the thundering white torrent all the way across the frozen lake and into the icy straight below. Kya braced herself, ready to be dunked into freezing seawater, but to her surprise, almost the entire straight was swallowed by the collapsed bluff and she was only buried waist deep in snow.

Slowly, Kya and Hakoda dug themselves free of the powdery snow.

"Well that was quite a fiasco!" said Hakoda cheerily while he picked lumps of snow out of his coat. "Hey, can you get the snow out of my back?"

"Sure," said Kya.

As she patted the rest of the snow out of Hakoda's coat, she spotted something shiny fall out of his sleeve. At a closer look, it was a clear, fiery orange stone. As she held it up higher, it defracted the rays of the sun into iridescent beams of yellow.

"Where did you get this?" she asked curiously.

"I don't know."

"It's pretty. Let's keep it." said Kya as they slowly made their way back to the village.

–

a/n: Review!


	4. When Lost Time is Found Again

a/n: This leaves off from the first chapter. and nothing you recognize belongs to me.

–

Bolin woke up to someone slapping his face.

"_UUUhhhhgggg_..." he groaned as he opened his eyes and saw Korra move on to violently slap Mako and the waterbending twins awake."What happened?"

As Mako started awake with a gasp, Korra said, "I don't know, but the Tree of Time is destroying and rebuilding itself."

He glanced he glanced around and saw that she was right. Something was very fishy here...

"Oh no!" cried Korra suddenly, "I can't bend anything!"

Bolin gaped at her, "Why?"

"Didn't the avatar spirit get destroyed or something?" Mako replied, rubbing his eyes irritably, "All I know is that we have to get out of here and protect people from the eternal darkness. Let's go through the Southern Portal, we need some time to recover before we try to take down Vaatu in the North. Maybe Katara will be there too."

"Okay." said Korra

The weary teenagers made their way to the Southern Portal and stepped into a different world...

—

Bolin was confused. Why wasn't the sky black and depressing? Everything looked just as clear and downy white as the North Pole did before Vaatu took over.

"It seems that father's dominion of terror has not yet migrated to this extremity." stated Desna monotonously.

"And let's make sure it never does." growled Korra, "C'mon, let's find a village."

Wordlessly, the twins tried to create an ice sailor. The water didn't respond.

"What are you doing?" asked Mako.

Eska whipped around and glared indignantly before snapping, "We attempted to construct a frozen locomotive device, but apparently, the water is unresponsive to our efforts."

"Okay, okay, let's not waste breath," huffed Korra, trying to keep peace. "We can walk for a while. The Southern Spirit Portal wasn't _too_ far from the white lotus compound."

–

Korra misjudged the distance. Without any efficient form of transportation, they had to walk for hours before finding a young Water Tribe woman walking along a snowy trail with a basket of fish.

She turned around and looked at them curiously.

"Excuse me Ma'am," said Bolin wearily, "Can point us to the nearest village?"

"I'm headed to my village right now." she replied a tad suspiciously, "But you'd better tell me what you're here for."

"Oh, we just need to see the best healer of all time, ya know, save the planet from the Dark Spirit of the world? With the Avatar? Ever heard of us?" He said tartly.

_ Did this girl not keep up with current events? Strange, those hair loopies look kinda familiar..._

"What my idiot brother is trying to say," interrupted Mako, "Is that we need to find the village where Master Katara lives."

"What!? You need K-katara?" stuttered the girl, "Master?! I'm a...what?"

Suddenly, it clicked.

The hair, the location, her shock at hearing her name,

_Then that means__...no, it couldn't be..._

"You're Master Katara!?" he blurted.

Korra scrutinized the young woman.

"How is that possible?" she asked.

"Korra," breathed Mako, "I think we went back in time."

–

a/n: fyi-the title for this chapter is based off a quote by benjamin franklin

-Does anyone wanna be a beta?

-The international dialing code for antarctica is 672, in case anyone wants to give Katara a call. jk.

REVIEW!


	5. Pushing Buttons

a/n: this leaves off from the second chapter. Nothing you recognize belongs to me!

–

Auma was starting to close shop for the day, and she looked down, self conscious about not looking fresh and prim for her date.

_It's not a date silly girl_. she thought to herself. _Why am I even embarrassed to show up to not look perfect? The arrogant walrus is supposed to be paying ME._

With that in mind, she locked her stand with a decisive _click _and waited outside.

Three minutes later, Yakone showed up with a handful of arctic lavender poppies. "Hello, my fair princess," he simpered, "How was business today?"

Auma rolled her eyes. "Good, but we still need to make up for all those sea prunes you squished." She replied waspishly.

"Oh, I have more than enough to compensate." He said with a steely eyed smirk as he handed her the flowers and wrapped an arm around her waist.

Auma looked into his eyes and blushed furiously, feeling warm and flustered all over.

"It's not a date!" she snapped as she whipped away his arm, mortified that her blood immediately rushed south.

_That didn't even make sense!_ She scowled even harder when he wiggled his eyebrows knowingly.

"Conceited meat-head." she muttered, stomping ahead.

—

After dinner, Yakone walked her home.

"Welp, this is my house," she said awkwardly, feeling like the evening ended a little anti-climactically. Overall, Yakone was sly, confident, handsome, funny, and _very_ irritating. Throughout their time he discovered almost all there was to know about her, pressed all her buttons, and scrutinzed her her with dark, intense, half-lidded stares that sent her inside aflutter. She felt like putty in his hands.

And all that she managed to find out about him was that he was an extremely gifted 19 year old waterbending master who took lessons from Pakku (_Who the heck could be THAT gifted?!_) and has to cook dinner for his grandmother's birthday in five days.

_Maybe I should help, _she considered.

Suddenly, she was pulled out of her thoughts when Yakone planted a soft kiss on the corner of her jaw, right where it met her earlobe. Then he whispered. "I'll take you for your next dinner in three days, on the full moon."

Then he sauntered away without looking back.

Auma rubbed the spot where his lips touched. "That was rude," she said hesitantly, even as she felt her heartbeat race again.

_How does he affect me so much?_

_–_

a/n: not true love, that's for sure. Review!


	6. Good News?

a/n: this leaves off from the third chapter. Once again, nothing you recognize belongs to me! Also, this is kind of just a plot filler. So, it's boring. Sorry.

–

Ten weeks later, Hakoda walked back to his tent after a meeting and training sessions with the Chief and other men of the village, regarding the rapid progress of the Fire Nation in war. The Chief wanted to assemble a small fleet to gather some intelligence from the Earth Kingdom and to visit the Northern Water Tribe. Hakoda crossed his fingers, hoping to be part of the fleet. He had high hopes; the Chief was impressed with his blossoming leadership skills, abstract thinking, wisdom, and "unconventional" sense of humor.

"Hi snowflake, I'm back." said Hakoda as he stepped into his hut. "Kya?" he enquired after not receiving an answer.

His wife stepped out of their bathroom looking pale and haggard.

"Kya, what's wrong?" said Hakoda worriedly.

"I felt nauseous," she said with a slight smile.

_Why the smile_? He thought with confusion."Do you have a cold? Do you need medicine? I can go buy you some lighter food if your stomach hurts."

"No, but I might start to crave some foods soon."

"What kind?"

"Foods that are good for pregnancy."

"So you'll want more greens an-_wait, **WHAT?**_"

"Hakoda, you are too oblivious."

"Are...are you..."

"Yes, you meat head!"

"Haha!" whooped Hakoda as he swept Kya into the air. "We are definitely having a celebration dinner tonight!"

—

As Hakoda walked to his neighbor's house to borrow some ice cloves, the Chief waved him over.

"Hakoda, I have some news for you regarding the mission."

"Oh! Did I get in?"

"No." he replied. Hakoda's face fell.

"But I have another task for you." continued the Chief, "I want you to be my deputy since I don't have son to inherit the position. You show great promise in leadership and the village will need unity and strength within. Times are dire, and no matter how dark the days become, I know you will guide the remaining young men and protect our people."

Hakoda was speechless."What...I can't lead a tribe! I don't know how!"

"Do not worry, you'll be ready. You have natural leadership and decision-making skills already. The fleet leaves in two moons. The village rests on your shoulders, Hakoda. I believe in you." With that, the Chief turned away.

Hakoda trudged home, feeling shell shocked by all the sudden news, and forgetting all about the cloves that he came out for in the first place. _Too much information for one day, _he thought._ Maybe if I go to bed it will all be a weird dream..._

–

a/n: Thank you to the _ONE_ person who is actually reviewing! You are awesome and deserve for rainbows and kittens to rain down and worship the ground you walk on!


	7. Rediscovery

Katara was suspicious of these strange people.

"What are you talking about? Where do you come from? What do you need to see me for? How do you even know me?"

The other water tribe girl replied, "We are from Republic City, we come in peace."

"Korra," interrupted the tall, pale boy, "If she's this young, there's no way she could have heard of Republic City."

"I'm standing right here you know, so stop talking in third person." snapped Katara. "I will stay in this very spot until you tell me everything about who you are and where you're from. You will not receive any help until you can prove that you are not a threat."

"_Sigh_." The other stocky boy rubbed his forehead dejectedly for a long moment, then word spewed out of his mouth at a ridiculously fast rate. "_My name is Bolin and that is my bother _(sorry, brother)_ Mako and that is Korra the avatar and that's Eska and Desna, the children of the Chief of the Northern water Tribe who turned evil and bonded with the dark spirit of the world, Vaatu, in order to defeat the light spirit of the world, Rava, who is incidentally whitish blue and inside the Avatar and makes the avatar all glowy _(*breath*)_ and Raava got ripped out of Korra and died and we were in the spirit world and got trapped in the tree of time which probably took us in the past and destroyed our future and it exploded and we woke up and some of us lost our bending and we ended up here._"

Katara blinked twice while her brain tried to function."Okay...so you guys are from the future. Does that mean the air nation avatar died during the genocide? Since the Avatar moved on to the water tribe? And did the Fire Nation call the (_coughdirtbagcough_) mayor of the Northern Water Tribe 'chiefs' in the future or something? And if those two are the Northern Water Tribe colonies' future leaders, why do they look so...water tribe? Did the mayors intermarry like the do in the Earth colonies or something?"

Mako looked perplexed for a moment, then slapped his forehead. "RIGHT. Forgot about the war." then he glanced back at her, confused again, "But the war should have been over by now!"

She stared at him incredulously and rubbed her temple. "Okay, okay, you guys are probably not spies." she muttered, "Not that there's anything worthwhile in our village to spy on anyways. The Fire Nation didn't even bother trying to colonize us."

Then she turned to them and said, "I have a pretty big canoe near the collapsed cliff right there. Let's go to the village and you can tell me about yourselves there."

—

By the time they reached the cliff, Katara's canoe was frozen into the icy bank. "Blubbery buffalo yaks," she swore as she took out a club and started to chip away the ice. For some reason, this caused huge vibrations, and the water seemed to boil beneath them.

Suddenly, an enormous gleaming ball of ice shot out from under the water, cracking and shifting the ice all around them and smashing the canoe to tiny pieces. The ragtag group clung on for dear life as a small blizzard seemed to rage around them. Then as soon as it started, it stopped. Katara stood up and dusted herself off.

"Look," drawled Eska, gesturing towards the ice, "There appears to be a phosphorescent creature inside."

Katara turned and saw a creature, or person? or both? with glowing eyes and arrows sitting in lotus position within a round iceberg.

"What is that?" She wondered.

"Spirits above," breathed Korra, "It's Aang."

a/n: IT LIVES!


	8. Under the Influence

Yakone had been surreptitiously courting Auma for about two months now,and this morning he wondered why he was continuing this this façade. Then one day, it hit him: _Shit, I'm in love with her_.

At first, he simply took interest in her jarring purple eyes, then he found it extremely amusing to taunt her with his innuendos and bloodbending, but eventually, his day brightened by just seeing her and occasionally became tongue-tied around her. Also, he started to feel a bit shameful about how much he materialized Auma, how he manipulated her. Though this didn't stop him from feeling exorbitantly pleased whenever he felt her heartbeat quicken around him without him having to make any moves. (Which was more and more common, he observed). He decided to be a gentleman from their second date onwards and had not kissed Auma since the chaste little exchange during their first dinner. Of course Yakone still touched her hair, or hands or arms to remind Auma of his existence, but was growing impatient with the lack of progress in their relationship. He wanted Auma to make the next move, and hoped she would do so tonight. He had spent a long time preparing the purple stone that he found the first day he met her at the market.

With this newfound optimism, he went to pick her up.

—

They chatted amicably (_when did that start happening?_) on their way to an inn that specialized in pickled foods and wines (_heheh_). Although, Yakone only wanted Auma to loosen up, he didn't want her drunk (_Although it would be quite interesting to see whether of not little Miss Prickly would mellow down with alcohol_). A little wine would simply dissolve any masks she had.

As they entered the restaurant, Auma went to wash her hands as Yakone ordered iceberry wine, sea cucmbers, a kelp and oyster soup, and a room upstairs. He surreptitiously slipped the key into his pocket as Auma walked back.

"Hey loser," She teased, "What did you order?"

"It's a surprise," he said while pouring a glass of wine.

"Mmm, this is good. Nice and sweet. What is it?"

"Iceberry wine. I thought you would want something light and fruity."

"Thanks."

She broke off awkwardly and quickly gulped down a large portion of her wine to cover up.

"How was work today?" asked Yakone.

"Interesting, there was a little kid who tried to eat a raw sea prune and broke a tooth."

"Silly little kid."

"No, he was so cute!" she sighed and looked off into space. "I wish I had a son." she added as an afterthought while taking another drink of wine.

Suddenly, the carefully carved purple stone seemed to weigh heavily in his pocket. "I..."

He was saved by the arrival of food.

"Ooo! I love oysters!" said Auma with a little giggle. "Can you feed me some?"

Yakone blinked and glanced over at the bottle of wine. It was half empty.

_Well this little spitfire has obviously never drank anything alcoholic before_. Smirking slightly in spite of himself, he scooped up an oyster with his fingers and held it up to her mouth. Sura stared into his eyes while sucking it out of the shell, carefully licking his fingers in the process. Yakone's eyes widened at how brazen she was acting.

"_More_." Said Auma.

"Gladly." He simpered back.

The rest of their meal consisted of a little manipulation contest that Yakone was definitely on the losing end of.

Finally, they finished and Yakone stood up stiffly, feeling like his pants were about to explode. He turned back and looked down on Auma, who pouted slightly.

"That's it?" she challenged.

"What else would you like, my little foxcat?"

"I think you can guess." She practically purred at him _in public_.

_Is that her or the alcohol speaking?_ Yakone didn't want to take advantage of her, but the blood was started to rush out of the head on his shoulders and into the one a bit further down.

"_Please._" she begged while wrapping her hands around him.

"_..." _

Yakone complied as she pulled him up the stairs of the inn, feeling his self control slipping away.

—

The following morning, Yakone, woke up before Auma. He looked fondly at her peaceful, sleeping face, knowing without a doubt that she would be extremely pissed off when she wakes up.

_Or maybe she'll give an encore. _Boy did that tiny half bottle of wine make a huge difference. He leaned back and sighed.

_Welp, this will definitely accelerate my plans._

Meanwhile, Auma stirred and and sighed, burrowing deeper into his side and wrapping her arms around his bare torso.

_Is she even awake?_ wondered Yakone. Suddenly, her head jerked up and she looked into his eyes, the blissful confusion in her violet irises slowly melting into shock and infuriation.

_Crap._

"What the fuck!" She exclaimed as she flew out of bed and stood as far from away as possible while he stared at her and smirked impundently.

"What are you looki-" she broke off, finally realizing her nudity. "_Urrrrrgggggh! Fuck you!_" She screeched and threw on the first article of clothing that came into her hands. Ironically, this was Yakone's coat.

"I believe you just did." said Yakone smugly, until he heard a clatter on the ground.

Auma eyes dropped to the object that fell out of the coat's pocket and widened at the sight of a tastefully carved purple stone with an indigo choker. "What is-IS THIS A _BETROTHAL NECKLACE!?_"

Yakone swallowed and slipped out of bed. _Better now than never, _he told himself resolutely as he walked over to her.

"Um," he said lowering himself onto one knee, "This isn't how it played out in my head, but-" He swallowed again, "Auma,"

_Deep breaths, _he told himself.

"_Will you marry me?_"

a/n: I screwed up while posting the chapters before. Now there should be a new Yakone/Auma chapter titled _Pushing Buttons_

a/n/n: I suck at writing anything sex-related, so if anyone is interested in writing a smut scene in the middle, then contact me! And I will put the link to it here!


	9. Loss

a/n: I will totally copy and paste a lot of dialogue from the series. NONE OF IT IS MINE!

Kya fixed socks and watched contentedly as her two children played in the snow outside.

"Sokka! Look, I made a snowman!"

"COOL! Let's pretend we're warriors and that's the enemy." squealed her nine year old brother.

"But I wanna pretend it's a Northern Water Tribe person who will give me lessons!"

"Fine, then make a snowman for me, and we can pretend it's a firebender and we can work together to fight it!"

"Okay...Wait! DAD'S HOME!"

"YAY! Hi dad!"

Hakoda waved at them from the little path outside their igloo. "Hello my brave warrior, my little princess." _(here Katara pouts)_ He then gives Kya a kiss. _(here Sokka gags)_

"Hey dad!" said Sokka, trying to act important, "How is the fleet? Are they at the Northern Water !ribe now? Are they ever coming back?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know. I'm not sure if the chief managed to reach the Northern Water Tribe at all." replied Hakoda apologetically. "Even if he has, he may not've been able to convince them to stop their isolationism. The Northern Water Tribe is much more conservative."

"What does that mean?"

"It means they don't like to change."

"But water is the element of change! Gran Gran told me so. They should help us!"

"And maybe someone can teach me waterbending too!"

"Perhaps. I need to meet with some other men about what to do next. Behave yourselves!" He said with mock sternness to his children. "Bye Kya! Love you!"

"Love you too."

"Wait, can we come with you dad?"

"I think it's better if you stay..."

"_Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease_?"

"Fine, but you need to stay outside the tent."

"Thanks daddy!"

"Oh!" said Kya, "And get Gran Gran to come home for dinner on your way back. I think she went to Paja's for something."

—

"Ooof."

"Hehe." giggled Katara as she threw a snowball right into his face

Sokka, huffing with indignation, picked up a huge chunk of snow from the edge of the meeting tent, but dropped it when he saw black flakes fluttering from the sky. The two children looked up cautiously.

"I'm going to find mom!" said Katara with a worried furrow in her brow.

Sokka scrambled up a small icy ridge and peered over it. His eyes widened as he saw fire benders rushing in off their boat with bloodchilling battlecries. At the same time, Hakoda led a group of men out of the meeting hut and rushed to face them head on.

A man landed headfirst into the snowdrift where Sokka was. Not wanting to seem cowardly, Sokka chucked a snowball onto his back and scampered over him to go fight with the rest of the men. When he got to the shore, he had just enough time to throw his boomerang once before the Fire Navy suddenly retreated. Sokka grinned in relief and turned around to look for his dad.

…

A few moments earlier, Katara ran quickly towards her home to make sure her mom was safe.

"MOM!" She cried as she burst in, eyes darting to the vicious, beady eyed firebending soldier standing over her mom. He looked at Katara shrewdly, as if imagining how to best exploit her presence.

"Just let her go, and I'll give you the information you want." said Kya desperately.

"You heard your mother," He growled, "Get out of here!"

"Mom," whimpered Katara, "I'm scared."

"Go find your dad sweetie, I'll handle this." replied Kya levelly.

With one more terrified glance, at the soldier, Katara sprinted out of the igloo as fast as her stubby legs would take her.

"Dad, dad, I think Mom's in trouble," She cried "There's a man in our house!"

"Kya!" exclaimed Hakoda as he rushed off

—

Hakoda threw open the tarp to get in the igloo, but it was too late. His wife's body, curled up in fetal position with her back to him, was still and surrounded by congealing blood and burn marks. Stumbling backwards in horror, he quickly covered Katara's eyes and led her outside. "Katara, go find Sokka and send a healer here." He whispered hoarsely, "Make sure you and your brother stay with Gran Gran for a while."

"Why? What happened? Is mom okay?" she questioned anxiously.

"Please, honey, go to your brother. I'll explain everything later."

Katara hurried off with a sinking feeling in her chest; deep inside, she already realized that the worst thing possible had happened.

a/n: If you're still around, PLEASE DON'T GIVE UP ON THIS FIC! It gets better after a while!


	10. A Whole New World

a/n: if you recognize any stuff from the show, it probably doesn't belong to me. Yah.

The last think Aang remembered was a storm, jagged flashed white, salty water burning his lungs, swirling and pulling him deeper. Next thing he knew, he was falling through _dry_ air and...not drowned? _What? Is this the spirit world?_

He heard a soft _whump_ as he landed in someone's arms, and murmuring in the background. _Hhhmm, this person is wearing thick clothes. It's cold and smells salty. Am I in the Water tribe?_ He felt a poking on his bald, shiny head and heard and indignant "Stop it!" Aand cracked open his eyes and saw a young woman with a fur lined coat, profound blue eyes against chestnut skin, and little hair loopies. _Yup. Definitely Water Tribe. Oooooo! I've never been to the Water Tribe! But Bumi told me about all sorts of fun stuff to do here..._

"I need to ask you something," He said to the water tribe lady with false feebleness.

"What?" asked the girl gently

"Please," he rasped, "Come closer"

She leaned in. "What is it?"

Aang suddenly snapped his eyes wide open. "Will you go penguin sledding with me?" he asked eagerly.

"Um...sure, I guess." replied the hair loopy girl with an odd look at the other water tribe girl.

"Aaaahh..." murmured another water tribe girl with a wolftail, "Should've known this would happen."

"Why? What's going on here?" asked Aang, scratching his bald shiny head.

A goofy looking buff kid with thick eyedbrows opened his mounth, looking like he was about to spill all the beans, but was interrupted by a low, groaning noise from the other side of the iceberg. Aang gasped and scrambled over the lip of the icy crater while the other people followed more slowly. Everyone's jaw dropped at the sight of him hugging the shaggy arrow on the head of a ten ton, six legged bison. (Except for Korra who just rolled her eyes again.)

"Haha! You're okay!" He said cheerfully.

"Woah," said Hairy Eyebrow Dude, "It's _The Avatar. FROM THE PAST!_" He cried, doing a dramatic little dance of excitement before hopped up to Aang and enthusiasctically shaking his hand.

Aang looked stupefied."I...I'm not the avatar. I don't even know the Avatar. I know people that know the Avatar but I didn't. Sorry." He looked at the little crowd before him curiously, then back at his bison, who was pulling a strange face. Suddenly, he pulled down the hairy eyebrow dude, "DUCK!" yelled Aang as his sky bison projectile sneezed all over the tall, pale kid in the back.

"Uuuuuuggg! Aaagh!"

"Don't worry, It'll wash out!" Aang grinned at him, seemingly oblivious to the strings of ochre mucus, starting to steam on his red, infuriated face. "So, what are your names? Do you live around here?"

The girl with the wolftail said, "I'm Korra, this is Katara, the poker-faced twins are Eska and Desna, the guy next to you is Bolin, and the tall cranky guy is called Mako."

Katara turned to Aang "What was your name again?"

"Oh, I'm A-Aa-a-AAACHOOOOOOOOO!" he sneezed with a resounding echo as he rocketed high into the clear arctic sky. On the way down, he slid smoothly down the walls of the icy crater and skidded to a halt in from of Katara. "I'm Aang!" He replied and proceeded to sniffle and rub his nose.

Katara gaped at him and made an incredulous noise at the back of her throat. "You just sneezed and flew ten feet in the air!"

"Really? It felt higher than that."

"You're an Airbender!"

"Sure am!"

"Then you need master the elements and stop the Fire Nation now!"

"Wait, what's wrong with the Fire Nation? How do all you guys seem to know who I am? And why do you people have wierd fancy clothes? And if you're stuck, Appa and I can give you a lift."

"We'd love a ride, thanks! We can clarify some stuff with each other on the way to the village."

"Okay, okay, we've all met each other, we've got the Avatar, and a flying bison, now can we _go_ so I can wash this _disgusting_ sludge off my face?"

a/n: Yay! 12 reviews so far! BTW, this will probably turn into a long epic tale that will take me like a year to finish writing, so just be prepared.


	11. Secrets Out

a/n: you will hate me by the end of this chapter. and nothing belongs to me. and this takes place around the same time as Kya's death.

Auma watched the year old daughter in her arms reach down to feel snow for the first time. Her heart warmed as the little girl giggled and tried to throw it at her brothers, who were waterbending under their father's pleased supervision.

Five-year-old Tarrlok smiled and made a small polar leopard bear out of ice, twin ponytails bouncing as he ran over to give it to her.

"Hey Tamara," he cooed, "look what I made!"

Tamara responded with a massive sneeze.

"Mom," said Noatak with a furrow in his brow, "You should bring her inside, I think she's cold."

"That's a good idea, Noa."

"I wanna go inside too." said Tarrlok.

"Finish this form, son. Don't give up until it's perfect."

Tarrlok pouted and shifted back into the stance while Auma carried Tamara back into the house and reflected on her life. Namely, the night Yakone had proposed:

_"Auma, will you marry me?"_

_"Yes! Fine! Whatever! Now would you put on some pants!?"_

She smiled at the thought. So much had changed since then; they had gotten married, had children, and moved to a village in the far southwestern part of the Northern Water Tribe territory, where the attitude towards the tribe's traditions and Isolationism was a bit more lax.

In fact, her husband would sometimes travel south to ports near some of the fire nation colonies and trade furs and preserved meats for spices, wood, coal, silk, and _news,_ something they have none of at the North Pole. One of the worst things about being protected by frigid waters and maze of icebergs was that they never got any information about the rest of the world. Plus, the Northern Water Tribe culture was so conservative. Men fight, women cook and clean and heal, the Water Tribe must stay out of the war for as long as possible, the culture should not change, etc. etc. _rules, rules, rules._

In fact, Yakone had often snickered that Master Pakku was such a sourpuss to his students because his fiancé ran away since he was such a pig-headed traditionalist. Her husband, on the other hand, had never really followed any conventional behavior. The first thing he did when they moved away from the capital was teach her how to use weapons.

(_What kind of Moron wouldn't learn combat in the middle of a war? he'd said_)

He allowed Tarrlok to try healing

(_Even though it's a waste of time he'd said_)

and he would, without a doubt, allow their daughter to learn combatitive waterbending if she were a bender. He also acted outside the bounds of their nation's ridiculous patriotism, doing whatever is best for his family and himself. That's why he was a merchant.

(Or would it be closer to a smuggler?)

Suddenly, Auma broke out of her thoughts when she heard yelling outside. She stuck her head out and saw her husband rushing the boys back to their house.

"Auma!" said Yakone as he flew through the door, "Stay in the house. I think there might be a small fire nation raid." panted Yakone urgently as he threw up ice all around the walls. "Boys, whatever happens, _don't let the ice melt._"

Outside the door, a roar sounded, then a scream.

"Daddy! We need to help!"

He shook his head and started heading towards the door.

"Dad! What are you doing?" yelled Noatak "We should go with you!"

"No, stay and protect your mother!"

Another scream rang outside, and a group of soldiers burst into their house.

"_Damnit_"

"Daddy, what are they doing here?"

"Wouldn't you like to know, little brat," a firebender snarled narrowing his eyes at Yakone and his family. "My sources tell me there is a waterbending smuggler of rare skill here." he said.

"You are looking in the wrong spot then." Yakone countered sharply, "We have done nothing."

Suddenly, Tamara started to cry, much to the family's dismay. The soldier glared at them and snapped "Shut that thing up right now."

"Hey! That was not very nice." muttered Tarrlok.

The soldiers slowly turned and looked at him shrewdly...and grabbed a squealing Tarrlok, placing a searing fire blade against his throat.

"You lie again, peasant, and your son will have a nice scar to prove it."

Auma's heart raced in panic and she glanced at her husband pleadingly.

_Please, you're a master. Do something! __Oh, that's strange..._

His eyes were cold and half-lidded, pupils dilated and irises contracted. Then suddenly, he bared his teeth, his eyes snapped open and the soldiers were lifted into the air, squirming and groaning in grotesque positions. Sweat beaded on Yakone's forehead at the exertion of his concentration.

"Knew you were a lying barbarian," gasped the lead soldier painfully as more soldiers stormed into the house. "Let's see how many you can hold off."

Auma grabbed a spear while her children fought _very_ skillfully.

_What has Yakone been teaching them? _

She glanced around, and saw that a man was sneaking up behind Yakone, a sharp, white hot flame right behind his neck.

"NO!" she screamed and leapt forward, hurling the spear towards the soldier's arm.

_BANG. _

_whoosh, explosions, fire, screams, _

_blackness._

_._

_._

_._

a/n: Okay, the end is super ambiguous but I was too tired to write it properly. Sorry person reading this.


	12. New Hope

a/n: back to the day Aang was found.

–

Back in the Southern Water Tribe Village, Mako watched as Katara and Aang blinked slowly after hearing the entire, long tale of how they ended up here.

"So, he's a firebender." Katara said, glaring at Mako, "Get him out of here!"

"Woah woah woah, watch what you say about my brother! He's not fire nation. He's a citizen of the United Republic! And half Earth! And I'm half Fire! And neither of us are evil!"

"Wait, so after we win the war, I have to make a city where everyone is mixed?"

Mako sighed at the boy's naivety. "How about you win the war first? You are already eight years later than you were before."

"Mako! Stop being so cranky." said Korra as she delivered a bruising punch in the arm.

"Hey watch it!"

"Ah, be careful with my bro! Your punches really do kinda hurt!

"Then _you_ can tell him to be nicer. And couldn't you tell I was _joking_?"

"Do not assume an irritated tone of voice with my feeble boyfriend."

"I thought he-"

"Perhaps we will be able to better restrain our conniptions after acquiring some sustenance?" griped Desna with a pointed look at a very confused looking Katara.

"Wh-"

"KATARA! Have you finally finished?" interrupted the voice of an old woman from outside, "If our visitors are not too worn, put them to work. We need help with preparations!"

"Ooooo, what are you preparing for?" inquired Aang.

Mako rubbed his forehead against the oncoming migrain. _Holy spirit of Agni SHUT UP. How could these people create so much commotion in this tiny time frame?_

"You guys arrived just in time for our sister tribe's annual visit." replied Katara as she stood up, "Come on, let's get you a bit food and meet the village. I'll tell you all about the celebrations later."

–

After introductions to a tough-looking lady, dubbed Gran Gran, and a tiny ragtag population, Mako and his friends (or _aquaintances_ in the case of Eska and Desna) helped the village finish cleaning their recently expanded meeting hut.

"So..." started Mako, "How does this annual meeting thing work?"

Katara glance over at him, still a little wary, "The Northern Water Tribe chief sends over a fleet of undercover warriors to us like, a month before the winter solstice, and we go over to them during the summer solstice. Since the moon disappeared, we'v-"

"THE MOON DIED!?" cried Korra, "And nobody saved it!? Huh, no wonder I couldn't waterbend."

"Um, yeah? It disappeared during a fire nation raid on the North Pole about ten years ago." said Katara with glance outside at Aang, who was showing the village teens his glider (currently attached to his tongue), "But if that goofy kid is actually the, _spirits forbid,_ avatar, the _last airbender_, I suppose we'll have a lot to discuss during our meeting...Maybe he can even help bring the moon spirit back."

"Yeah, but why are the Norther Water Tribe people 'undercover?'"

"Oh, I guess if the Fire nation lost the war where you came from, the water tribes would still be free." replied Katara, rubbing her head, "Okay, after Zhao defeated the Water Tribe, he set up a colony at the capital and assigned some noble named Dian-Jian as Mayor. But most of the tribe managed to run into the tundra and build shelters where it's too cold and harsh for firebenders to catch them. A lot of them didn't make it. Most of the resistance left is on the Western Tundra, but they can't do much without their waterbending."

"Well, since we come from the future, we have a lot of information about the war. We could help you."

"That would be great to bring up at the meeting-"

"HEYHEYHEYHEYGUESSWHATTHESHIPSJUSTARRIVED!" yelled Aang as he flew into the tent on a gust of wind and snow.

Katara shook her head at his antics and waved for everyone to join her outside. "Come on, let's go welcome our family from the north. Most of these people used to be amazing benders. And the youngest two people are really cool. You'd like them."

"Okay," replied Korra, curious about who she'd meet.

When she stepped outside, she saw a group of about twenty people unloading a small ship. Korra saw a white-haired, whiskery old man walk up to Gran Gran.

_Must be Katara's master Pakku_, she thought.

A few steps away, an egotistical looking, square jawed guy who looked a little over Katara's age was flirting with a bunch of girls.

_Blech._

And just getting off the ship was a man with horrible scarring that ran across the entire left side of his face, so severe that it cut off most of his left sideburn, leaving shiny scar tissue in the place of hair. His three ponytails whipped around as he turned back to the ship and called "Hurry up boys, and bring empty scrolls and ink!"

_Wait...THREE PONYTAILS? could this person be- and are his kids-_

Korra stood there, thunderstruck as two people who looked barely the age of twenty hopped over the side of the boat. The older one was stocky and a little pale (for a water tribeman), with black hair in a wolftail, just like her. The younger one had two ponytails, and when he turned and saw Katara, his tan, eerily familiar face broke into a massive grin.

"Hey Katara!" he called, "Long time no see!"

—

Tarrlok shook water off his boots, frowning at the lingering dampness that he couldn't bend away. He still was not completely used to the loss of the moon and his bending eight years ago. He slung his bag over his shoulders and stretched his legs, heading towards Katara and scanning the crowd.

_Interesting, there seem to be some people of other nations._

He glanced around and saw a fairly pretty girl (_with an uncanny resemblance to Noatak_) he'd never met before whose eyes bore into him and his brother, full of unadultered panic.

_What's wrong with her?_

He waved to her, and for a moment, her eyes widened before before she seemed to steel herself and walk over to Katara. She was relatively tall, and athletic looking with perfect, large-_come on me, get your mind out of the gutter_.

He shook himself.

"Come on Noa," he said as he dragged his brother by the arm over to meet them.

"Hey guys," asked Katara, tackling them with a hug, to the alarm of the other girl, "How's life at the North?"

"Kinda shitty."

"Hey!" barked Tarrlok at his brother, gestruring farcically at Korra and Katara "Don't use that language in front of such _distinguished female company_!"

For some reason, this made the new girl grimace, instead of blushing like most people he'd met. Like she'd expected him to say something ridiculously flattering.

_Very interesting._

"So, what's your name?" He asked.

"Korra."

"What a lovely name! I'm Tar-"

"Tarrlok. I know." she snapped. "Your brother is probably named Noatak and you're both bloodbenders."

What in the name of spirits did she call him? Could she not tell that he was trying to have a civilized conversation? and _how did she know his brother?_

"What's bloodbending?" he asked cluelessly. "How do you know us?"

Korra looks at him searchingly and muttered "_I forgot you aren't that one,_" then sighed, "It's a _loooong_ story."

"We have time before the feast starts." said Noatak, "My _coughweaselsnake_ of a brother and I are neither prominent, nor evil. So we're quite curious as to why you're so frosty. I'm sure you have an fascinating tale. You don't seem like you're from around here."

For some reason, his brother's words amused this strange unfriendly girl. She snickered as the sound of his and Noatak's voice drew over the rest of strange people, all of whom were looking at them with expressions ranging with mild apathy from a pair of (_male or female?_) twins to wary hostility from two pale boys who were definitly not watertribe.

Tarrlok sighed inwardly and took a step backwards, closer to his brother.

_Definitely not in fear. Nope. Not scared of a bunch of wierdly dressed, hostile, irrational strangers._

He put on a somewhat amicable face an asked, "So...where did you all come from?"

"We're from the future," deadpanned the taller pale kid.

"Ha, good one. But seriously, who are you guys?"

"I'm not joking"

"How the f-"

At this moment, Katara cut in, "Okay, Tarrlok, I know these people seem a bit dubious and unfriendly, but they've been throught a lot recently and they're telling the truth."

"So they're serious about being from the future? _Seriously._"

"Yes, you moron, they are seriously serious."

"Oh Noa, why do you insult me so?" sighed Tarrlok theatrically. He glanced over and saw Katara roll her eyes while the strange new people whispered amongst themselves, glancing at him and his brother suspiciously. He sighed again irritably and tried to furiously knead away the oncoming headache from his temples.

"Okay, I'm super hungry, and tired, and you're all being irrational idiots, so let's go eat." he said as he stalked off to the meeting tent and dining hall.

—

Korra was _freaked out_. By Amon (no, **Noatak**, she reminded herself) and especially freaked out by Tarrlok. Who she was 90% sure was trying to chat her up. And how creepy was it that the two of them actually joke and hug and swear like other jerky young men in their early twenties? And they were nice people. The senile, gifted, antibending revolutionary leader and a sly, power hungry politician were _nice_? By the way, has she mentioned that Tarrlok was trying to flirt with her? Which wasn't entirely bad cuz he was pretty tall and hands-

_STOPTHATRAINOFTHOUGHTRIGHTNOWHATISWRONGWITHYOUGETAGRIPONYOURSELFAND__**CALMTHEFUCKDOWN**_

Okay, she is now sure that time traveling messed with her head. Or maybe she was hungry.

_Yeah, better to blame it on hunger, _Korra thought as she walked into the meeting room with everyone else for a welcoming feast. She looked around and saw Tarrlok look up from his conversation and notice her. _Crap_. She quickly sat down next to Katara and frantically gestured for Mako take the seat next to her. But Tarrlok was faster.

"So _Korra_," he said as he lounged beside her with his back turned against Mako's vexed face, "Who's the goofy little kid with the arrow on his head?"

"You'll probably find out soon." she muttered.

"And when am I going to find out why you hate me so much?"

"Just something from the future. Maybe we'll explain today." she muttered as she turned her shoulder to him, feeling his irritated scowl rest on the back of her head. _Good_.

Katara turned to her and said, "Before the feast starts, I will make an announcement an introduce you guys."

"Cool, should I say anything?"

"No, but we usually hold a meeting the day after the feast. You guys should join us."

"Okay."

Suddenly, something occurred to Korra. Why was was Katara the one making announcements and hosting meetings and organizing this stuff? Was she the eldest child of the chief with only daughters in this universe?

"Where's Sokka?" She asked absentmindedly.

Katara peered at her strangely. "How did you kn-...it has something to do with the future, doesn't it."

"Huh? Oh yeah," she replied, "He was a councilman in the city I was visiting."

"Really? Wow." said Katara, "But I guess that kinda makes sense. He is pretty good at leading people."

"So, where is he again? Right now?"

Katara looked at Korra sadly and replied, " We recieved word that my father's war fleet was captured and Sokka ran away to go look for them. I don't know where he is, or where my father is being kept, or if he's even..." here she paused and swallowed, "...around anymore."

"Oh. I'm sorry." said Korra awkwardly. "But we have the Avatar now, and we can go look for him."

Katara, looked unconvinced, "If we find him, I don't know if he even wants to come home. He always seemed kind of restless here. Like me. But I'd be grateful for any help. I don't feel like I was born to be a chief. But whatever, someone has to spout hot air." she joked weakly. Then, she took a deep breath and stood up, clapping her hands together.

"May I have everyone's attention? Thank you. Before we dig in, I'd like to welcome the Northern Water Tribe for their annual visit to the South Pole and thank them for taking such a long and dangerous journey. I cannot express how grateful we are that at a time of desperation, we are able to remain strong and united. Although the fire nation has forced the nations to surrender, although they have captured the major cities of the world and dismantled it's armies, they have not taken away our strength. They have not taken away our will. And now, I say this to you all because, we have guests that will bring us hope again. May they rise."

Korra stood up, and saw that her friends and Aang had done same.

"I believe there has been divine intervention from the spirits, that they have sent us help at a time when the world threaten to sink into despair. These new faces that you see belong to people not from our time. They come from a bright future where the side of righteousness has won the war. Although our timeline seems to deviate from theirs, the essence of our people remains the same. If we won in then, there is no reason why we can't win now! And I know we can do it because now, after more than a hundred years, the world's beacon for hope and peace is here. The time to fight is now, now that The Avatar has returned!"

–

a/n:HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I'M SO HAPPY! Now the story is really going to start!


	13. Drifting in the Foam

a/n: okay, this chapter is kinda angsty. Also, I uploaded an image for this story but it got cut off. So go to inwhich-te-tree-of-time-explodes. tumblr image/ 104596077570 (without spaces) for the full thing. But CAUTION! There be spoilers!

–

Gusts of southern wind whipped around rolling dunes of sand, rising, falling, sinking, growing in an endless pattern. Meanwhile, a young man shot along on an abandoned sand sailor. He laid back, feeling numbness and grief.

_It's all my fault. It's always my fault._ He would go wherever the wind carried him. _Nothing matters anymore_.

His mouth was parched but he was too tired to even bring the waterskin to his lips. He closed his eyes-

_A man needs his rest..._

-and slept.

–

_Turbulent thoughts flit through his subconscious: Uncle's smile, crinkly wrinkles around his eyes as he made tea. _

_Anger. _

_That old man had no right to be happy living in squalor, one of the many peons in the dirty, dingy streets of the city of walls and secrets. They were royalty. They shouldn't be chased around like common criminals. They are NOT traitors. He wanted the fire nation to win the war. Right? Except "_there is no war in Ba Sing Se"_. But of course there was__ there was, especially when a giant drill tears through the supposedly impenetrable walls. Especially when the vicious army of his home nation surges through the streets in a wave of blood, fire and steel. Especially when his _little fourteen-year-old sister _somehow managed to shift the allegiance of the "Protectors of the City" to her. And left afterwards. _

_Thank Agni too, or else he and uncle would have been caught a long time ago. For eight years, she was gone. Eight years of relative peace. Eight years of prosperous business. Eight years to wake the hell up and see what the Fire Nation has become. That his father was insane. _

_He was beginning to understand why Jeong Jeong deserted._

_Eight years later, Azula returned. When she first walked into the city's most prestigious teashop, her cruel, impassive face rippled a little, then lit up with the most delightful expression, like she had received a gift from the spirits themselves._

_It was the most terrifying thing he had ever seen._

_It happened so fast he could only remember flashes of elements binding him. Then a chase with a firm hand guiding him the entire way and melted stone. Exhaustion. Uncle collapsing in a net of buzzing static. Screaming (from his own mouth?). A final glance at Azula's face, her eyes unreadable and her mouth forming the words _**_"_Let him go._"_**

_But that didn't make sense! He must have seen wrong!_

_Azula always lies. _

_Darkness._

_._

_._

_._

_._

When he woke, night was falling, his skin was sticky from sweat and his eyes full of grit. Although he was sweaty and tired and dehydrated, the intense sunlight seemed to have recharged him. But he still didn't want to move. He would need hope for that to happen...

_What would Uncle say?_

_No! Zuko! You must never give into dispair. Allow yourself to slip down that road and you surrender to your lowest instincts. In the darkest times, hope is something you give yourself. That is the meaning of inner strength. Now GET UP! _He groaned and complied, teetering dangerously. _Now uncork your water skin. _

Pop.

_Now drink._

He obeyed.

_Water is the element of change._

He was going insane.

His sanity, slipping from between his fingers, just like Uncle. Funny how little he appreciated what he had, until it was gone, like everything else he cared about. He squandered so much of those eight years on bitterness and nostalgia and angry hopes of finally earning his father's love. If only he realized who had been a real father to him earlier on! But he had to keep going, if only for the sake of retribution.

_I will avenge you._

Zuko stretched his tired limbs and rubbed the sand out of his eyes. The winds had died down and the sand sailer was still. He observed his location, but saw nothing more than endless rolling dunes, and a tiny prick in the distance, like a small lighthouse for lonely travelers on the sea of sand.

_Why in agni's name is there tower in the middle of a desert?_

Dazedly, he started to trek over.

—

As Zuko approached this mysterious tower he noticed a hole in front of it, with sand being steadily tossed out.

"Hello?" He called warily

Bright, curious brown eyes, shadowed by a beige, wide brimmed hat, peered over the edge of the little pit.

"Ah! Well hello friend, what brings you here?"

"I could ask the same thing." replied Zuko carefully.

"Ha Ha!" laughed the strange man easily, "Good answer. I am currently excavating the remains of Wan Shi Tong's magnificent spirit library!" he announced exuberantly.

Suddenly, a fox bounded out from behind a sand dune with a scroll in it's mouth. Zuko lept back in surprise as the fox galloped vertically up the tower and disappeared into a window on top. Zuko glanced back at the traveller in the hole and started to ask, "What is-"

"Oh, that is one of Wan Shi Tong's foxy little knowledge seekers! Fascinating creatures indeed! But since they are spirits, I have no way of telling whether the library is in this world at all! They can exist in both the physical and spirit world." he sighed mournfully, "How disappointing that my life's greatest ambition may now be full of sand."

Zuko looked down at this genial man who reminded him (_like everything else on the planet now_) of uncle. Except with an obsession for books and reading instead of tea and pai sho.

"Who are you?" he asked, "What is your name?"

"I am Professor Zei, former Head of Anthropology at Ba Sing Se University." he said while scrambling out of the hole. "Although not a part of Ba Sing Se anymore, unfortunately, because I was not able to re enter the city after my last expedition. Since it was captured by the Fire Nation! *_sigh_* And yourself? What is your tale?"

Zuko swallowed uncomfortably. "I'm from Ba Sing Se too. Name's Li." He lied, cautiously holding out a hand.

The Professor shook it energetically, oblivious to Zuko's discomfort. "What a shame that you will probably not manage to return to the city either! Would you like to help me excavate?"

Zuko raised an eyebrow as he glanced down at the tiny shovel in Professor Zei's hand.

"Perhaps it would be better to try and climb to the window."

"That woud be a phenominal idea if I could climb up! I have rope." he pondered

_I could boost myself with firebending,_ thought Zuko, _But he would probably panic if he found out I was a firebender._

Then, an even stranger thought occurred to him. Why was he even helping this man? Because he bore a slight resemblance to Uncle? He should not be pining so much.

"Are you a bender, Mister Li?" inquired Zei, breaking him out of his thoughts

"Yes." He answered absentmindedly, glancing at the tip of the tower.

"Then can you create a staircase?"

Zuko gaped in confusion. _How can I create a staircase using fire-Oh._ He then realized this man thought he was an earthbender. He mentally facepalmed himself for being so errant. "Eerrrrrm..."

Meanwhile, the professor retrieved his rope with an expression of childlike anticipation on his face.

Zuko debated whether or not he should reveal that he was a firebender. _"Screw it," _he thought. The nerdy little professor wouldn't be able to do anything to him anyways. "I'm not an earthbender."

Zei looked at him in puzzlement, "Well you certainly do not look like a waterbender"

"I'm a fire-"

"A firebender!" he exclaimed while jumping up, grabbing his hand and checking in between the fingers. "Flying hog monkeys! Never thought I would be able to examine one so close up!" Then he pried open his eyelids and stared directly into his pupils.

_Well this is a better than expected reaction. _thought Zuko while trying futily to blink. Suddenly, the professor sprang away.

"Well, I suppose we should get into the library first. Must set priorities you know!"

_Thanks. Always nice to be a second priority_. thought Zuko wryly as he grabbed the rope and ran up the wall, blasting a flame outwards to keep himself propelled towards the tower. At the top, he took a leap and released a fireblast from his feet to push him up to the windowsill. He landed lightly and tossed the other end of the rope back to the professor, while looking down towards a humungous and very much intact library.

Suddenly, black spots swam in his vision and he had to sit down heavily from exhaustion. The past couple of days had drained him immensly, his waterskin was almost empty, and he had not had anything to eat since coming into the desert two days ago. He balance precariously on the edge of the window, leaning his head back against the warm brick behind him.

"Li! Are you unwell?" huffed Zei after clambering to the top of the rope.

"Just a little dizzy."

"Have some water," said the professor, taking out his water before saying, "Then we must examine the archives! There are thou-"

_Gurrgulurgr_...growled Zuko's stomach to his chagrin.

Without even pausing, the professor handed him a biscuit and threw the rope down inside while continuing, "-sands of years of knowledge to be found!"

Without futher ado, the eccentric scholar shimmied down the rope into gaping space below.

Zuko followed suit, feeling grateful, but mildly affronted about how the professor did not bother to ask about his wellbeing.

_Whatever, he's a complete stranger anyways._

When he reached the bottom, Zuko gazed around in awe, momentarily forgetting about hunger and thirst and fatigue, and simply taking in shelves upon shelves of knowledge at his disposal. He could understand where the professor's carefree nature came from; life would be so much easier if Zuko's sole drive were knowledge, if he would always feel what he felt at this very moment.

Not that this was his first time seeing a grand library. He was the CROWN PRINCE who lived in the FIRE NATION CAPITAL. But the entire Capital City's library isn't even the same size as two floors of...of..this fortress of books.

Apparently, Zei's opinion of the place was very similar.

"Oh, it's breath taking. The spirits spared no expense designing this place." he breathed, drinking in the sight, "Look at those beautiful buttresses!"

Zuko snorted softly, feeling extremely immature.

"What's funny?"

"Nothing, I just like architecture."

"As do I." replied Zei with dreamy smile, "My word! Look at the exquisite mosaic handiwork of this tile-rendered avian symbol..."

Zuko looked at him nonplussedly.

_What?_

"Eh, nice...owl." amended the professor after seeing his confused face.

Suddenly, he heard a flapping noise and dove behind a pillar, dragging the professor with him. He peeked out from behind the pillar, staring at the unsettling pair of white feathers, resembling eyes, on the back of a giant owl-spirit's head.

"I know you're back there." said the owl-spirit in an ominous voice.

Before Zuko could stop him, Professor Zei stepped out excitedly from behind the pillar.

"Hello! I'm Professor Zei, head of anthropology at Ba Sing Se University." he said, bowing to the massively tall and intimidating black owl.

"You should leave the way you came," replied the owl, gesturing to a wall on the left, "Unless you want to become a stuffed head of anthropology."

Zuko glanced over at a the wall, mounted with a couple of gruesome, preserved animal heads and stepped into view. "Are you the spirit that brought this library to the physical world?" he asked.

"Indeed, I am Wan Shi Tong, he who knows ten thousand things, and you are obviously humans, which by the way are no longer permitted in my study."

"What do you have against humans?"

"Humans only learn things to get an edge on other humans. Like that firebender who came to this place a few years ago, looking to destroy his enemy. So..." Wan Shi Tong pulled his face close to Zuko's and squinted into his eyes, "Who are you trying to destroy?"

"I don't care." _What's the point? Nothing will bring him back._

"Hmmm, an interesting answer. Then why have you come here?"

"I don't know." _perhaps you can tell me, mister 'He-who-knows-ten-thousand-things.'_

"Perhaps you should leave, if there is so little motivation for coming here."

At this, Professor Zei sprang forward, "Please, Great Spirit! We will not abuse the knowledge in your library. This young man does not have an evil bone in him! We seek only the cerebral treasures within your great archives."

"Very well, I will let you peruse my vast collection on one condition. To prove your worth as scholars, you have to contribute some worthwhile knowledge."

Zei immediatly stepped forward with a heavy book in hand, "Please accept this tome as a donation to your library."

"First edition, very nice" replied Wan Shi Tong as he swept it away under his wing. Then, he turned his shrewd eyes upon Zuko. "What do you have to contribute, young man?"

"I...I know the fate of the man who last entered your library."

"As do I." said the owl loftily.

"The fire nation is winning the war?"

"Mmmmhmmm."

"Hot air rises."

"And how do you intend to prove this."

"If you take a balloon and fill it with warm air, it will rise."

"Fine. I suppose that counts as knowledge." muttered Wan Shi Tong as he swept away. "Enjoy the library."

"Profes-" started Zuko as the professor eagerly scurried away to gather books. "Never mind." he muttered to himself.

He started to meander too. With nothing better to do, he might as well learn some things.

As he headed downstairs, he noticed more and more red appearing. _This must be where the section about the fire nation is._ Zuko hurried down. Perhaps he would be able to find some sort of divine knowledge about the nature of fire.

When he walked aroung the last corner, he stood dumbstruck at the sight of an entire passageway, completely burned out. Black soot still stained the shelves where those old scrolls and tomes used to lay. The Admiral must have destroyed it last time he came to the library!

_Zhao, you deserve whatever torture the spirits are putting you through right now._

Numbly, Zuko walked back the way he came. He had never been a sentimental person, but thinking about all those priceless artifacts, completely destroyed, filled him with a sense of great loss.

_Once something is lost, it can never be replaced..._

Mournfully, he walked to the next floor down, dedicated to the spirits. _Uncle would love this place he thought,_ running his fingers along a row upon row of scrolls. Then, one particular small scroll caught his attention. To Give Qi, To Take Substance it read, He unrolled it and started to read:

_Spirits, in a mortal form, although weak, are able to connect with other mortal beings much more effectively than in spirit form. During the First Age of the Avatar, most spirits withdrew to the metaphysical world, but energybending masters with connections to the elements created physical offspring which can take the form in nature or in animals. These creatures are the true masters of an element and practice bending in it's purest, most refined form. Such masters may include, air bison, badgermoles, dragons, and even the moon and plants. In history, many benders have met the masters personally, but only those whose souls are pure may recieve divine knowledge of their element._

Then the page ended. Zuko looked up, pondering what he just read. _Welp_ he thought, _Time to do more research._

_–_

a/n: okay, this chapter is ridiculously confusing. Sorry.

ps, when you review, (_and I know you will all review because you are not buttfaces!) _please mention any ships, platonic or non-platonic that you might like to see! I can't guarantee that it will come true, but do it anyways!


	14. The Surreal War Meeting

a/n: Okay, so in the last paragraph, Azula took over Ba Sing Se using the Dai Li, (cuz she's a frickin brilliant sociopath), went away without noticing Iroh and Zuko were in the city, and returned eight years later. And I have no backstory for how it happened.

ps, with the shipping thing, please do not ship Azula, Aang, Korra, Tai Lee, or Tarrlok with anyone. I already have their life planned out! (sorry about all of your shattered hopes and dreams.)

–

Noatak woke up the following morning, and stretched sleepily against the pelts in his guest tent. He glanced over and saw that his brother and father were still asleep. Carefully, he tiptoed around the tent, trying to not wake them, and slipped into his thick, fur lined parka. Then, he stepped outside, hoping to take a walk before breakfast.

As he exited the tent, he noticed that one of the strangers, a tall, pale, crabby looking boy with a red scarf, was sitting outside rubbing his temples.

_Might as well talk to him._

"Hey." greeted Noatak as he approached from behind, "What is your name?"

The kid whipped around at the sound of his voice, eyes full of apprehension, but relaxed a little upon seeing his face.

"Uh, Mako." he replied awkwardly, "Hi?"

_This guy has less social aptitude than I do._

"You're looking a bit rough, Mako. Couldn't you sleep?"

"Not really. The sun was shining too much, and I kind of tend to rise with the sun." replied Mako a bit warily.

_Where have I hear that phrase? It sounds kind of familiar..._

"Oh, really?" he replied, "Usually we do run into problems with the 'midnight sun' when it come to outsiders. Although that other earth kingdom kid doesn't seem to have an issue sleeping with the sun."

"Well, Bolin is pretty adaptable."

"Hhmm." he mumbled noncommittally. "So...are you a bender? What part of the earth Kingdom are you from?"

"Actually, in the future, we have this place called the United Republic of Nations where, uh, people from all nations live together."

"Really." he said with a touch of derision.

"Yeah." replied Mako sharply, "There are people from the Water Tribe in the city. A lot more from the North than the South. But most people are Earth or Fire-"

"Firebenders?"

"Well, it was created after the war ended-"

"Did we win in your world? What happened? Did I help?"

"I'm not sure. You weren't even born this early during my time."

"Then when was I born?" asked Noatak curiously, "Did I still have the same family members?"

"Yeah...and you and your brother were born about twenty years from now."

"Wow. And my parents weren't born later?" replied Noatak, looking slightly disturbed, "That meant my parents were about 60 years old."

"About that...your father was an escaped crime boss. Of a bloodbending gang. And he ran back to the Northern Water Tribe to escape his trial."

"_What?_" he asked, scandalized, "And what is this 'bloodbending' that I keep hearing of?"

At this point, Mako was practically squirming from discomfort.

_What are you all hiding from me?_

"Actually. You don't need to answer that now. You can probably do that at the war meeting. You are coming, correct?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'll just let my brother fill you guys in there. I'm not the best speaker."

_Obviously._

"That's fine. Who is your brother?"

"Bolin." said Mako like it was obvious, "Short, muscular, looks like the typical earthbender, guy you were just asking about-"

"Him? He doesn't resemble you very much."

"Well, we are different elements, you know-"

"Wait a minute...You're not an earthbender? YOU'RE A FIREBENDER?"

Just then, Tarrlok came out of the tent and strutted over to them.

"Hey Noa!" he said, jogging up and giving him an irritating tug on his wolftail, "Hey newbie! You guys ready for this War meeting? With the arrival of the Avatar, we might actually talk about something interesting this time…...why do you two look like someone just died?"

Noatak simply stalked away to get himself breakfast, leaving his brother to quirk an eyebrow at Mako in confusion.

–

About two hours later, Tarrlok walked into the war tent and took a seat next to the guy he saw talking to his brother earlier.

"So…..." he started, "What's your name again?"

"Mako."

"Well lovely to meet you Mako-_ow_!" he said as Katara elbowed him in the ribs, much to the amusement of this _Mako_ guy.

"Shush, loudmouth, we're starting now." She said. "Master Pakku, would you share with all of us what the situation in the capital is right now?"

"Currently, the Fire Nation is exploiting of our complete lack of bending. At this point, they're probably just waiting for the tundra to kill us off. They've built stone houses in place of the ice ones we used to have. They are also mining the ores in the cliffs surrounding the city, like iron and coal." he said bitterly, "Right now, they are starting to shift poor, homeless earthbending orphans to the north pole."

"Hmm, do you think we should try to rescue them?"

"No we-"

"You guys should just bring the Moon back!"

At this, every head at the table turned to look at the foreign, stubby nosed earthbender who spoke up. The new kid quailed a little under all of the scrutinizing stares.

"Okay, ya know what?" said Katara slapping the ground as people in the meeting started to chatter amongst each other in suspicious, hushed whispers, "Introductions first." she continued, breaking up the chatter, "Can all of you new people tell us who you are, what element or fighting specialty you know, and how much experience fighting you have? Oh, and feel free to tell us whatever you know about how we defeated the Fire Nation in the past, and how that changed events in the future. Start off..." she said, gesturing to the stranger,

"Bolin." he said as he stood "I'm uh, an earthbender and I've been a pro bender, like a bending sports team, I've battled out the equalists, and I helped fight Vaatu, the dark spirit of the world...which is the opposite of the avatar spirit-"

"WHAT?" exclaimed the whole table in unison.

"Well, we lost that battle because the evil spirity thing bonded with the avatar's uncle who created like an anti-avatar and killed the good avatar spir-"

"So the Avatar cycle was destroyed?" asked Yakone, abruptly cutting off Bolin's flustered rambling.

"Yes. I'm Korra, the last Avatar of my world." said Korra, with a wary glance at everyone.

Immediately, question started to pour out of the crowd.

"Can you bend for us?"

"How do we know you're not lying?"

"How far in the future are you from?"

"What happens to me?"

"What happened to the fire nation in your time?"

"Why are you so young?"

"HOLD ON!" cried Katara, silencing the battery of questions. "But there was an airbending avatar born before you, right?" she asked, turning to Korra.

"Yes, that would be Aang."

"Whose-"

"Hi! I'm-"

"Don't blow yourself in the air this time."

"Heheh, sorry about that. Why are you all looking at me like that? Did Appa sneeze on me?"

"Well, no one has seen an airbender in a hundred years." said an old lady next to Pakku, "We thought they were extinct until my granddaughter and grandson found you."

"Extinct?"

"Aang, this is my grandmother."

"Call meh Gran Gran."

"Wait a sec, what do mean extinct? No matter what happened, they could just fly away!"

"When Fire Lord Sozin started the war, he used the power of a comet to-"

"Okay, back up. I have friends all over the world, even in the Fire Nation. I've never seen any war."

"How long were you in that iceberg Aang?"

"I dunno, a few days, maybe?"

"I think it was more like a hundred years!"

"What? That's impossible. Do I look like a hundred-twelve year old man to you?"

"Think about it. The war is a century old. You don't know about it because, somehow, you were in there that whole time. It's the only explanation."

"Uh, we could've told you all of that." said Korra, "It seems like our two worlds have a lot in common up until this point."

"No," said Mako, "Up until some point in the past."

Then he turned to Korra, "Remember how Unalaq blew up the tree of time? What if destroying it somehow changed the world in the past?"

"What is the Tree of Time?"

"Just some old tree in the spirit world that's been here since the beginning of time and has trapped the dark spirit of the world for like ten thousand years." replied Bolin nonchalantly, "But that's irrelevant!"

"How is a giant spirit tree that completely changed the future irrelevant to-"

"Perhaps it would be prudent to discover the events which caused the timelines to diverge." said of of the twins, immediately silencing the crowd.

"Okay, good idea." said Mako, "I know the biggest differences in our timelines so far is that Aang wasn't found until recently, Noatak and Tarrlok were born about forty years earlier, and the moon spirit was never brought back to life."

"How were we born forty years in the future!" cried Tarrlok, "That would mean that our father was over sixty!"

"Well, he got an appearance altering surgery after escaping his trial-"

"What exactly," interrupted Yakone with a steely scowl, "Was I on trial for?"

"Eerrrm, you were kind of a crime boss that created a bloodbending triad that went around looting the Republic City?" replied Bolin nervously, "Although you're obviously not a criminal in this world, right? And you probably can't bloodbend because there's no moon..."

"Bloodbending!?" exclaimed Pakku, "Could you do this...this travesty upon Tui and La while you were my student?"

Yakone had the decency to look a little repentant. "Sorry."

"You also passed the ability to bloodbend to your children."

"WHAT!?" shouted Tarrlok, "Controlling another living person's body fluids? That's kinda...revolting!"

"Father," asked Noatak cooly, "Was that what you were doing the day of the attack.

"Yes."

"Were you ever going to tell us?"

"Nope. The skill sucks."

"But father, if we could bring back the moon, don't you think we should use that rare skill to defeat the Fire Nation? It would be justified to take away some of their power so the nations can stand on more equal-"

"Ho no; NO talk of _equality_ from you! In our universe, it caused you to turn into a radical leader of an anti-bending group called the "Equalists" and you used bloodbending and chi-blocking to take away other people's bending completely. And none of your followers knew who you really were because you always wore a mask. And you thought bending was the root of all evil. Because it causes an uneven distribution of power."

"Well, it does once you think about it."

"Bro, we are trying to appease them. C'mon, you have to show a bit more tact."

"It's funny you talk about 'appeasing' people, because you turned out to be a corrupt, bootlicking politician who didn't know that your brother was the leader of the equalists, and you ended up bloodbending and kidnapping the avatar in an obsessive power grab. Oh, then then you lost you bending and commited a double suicide to rid the world of bloodbending."

"Aah...sorry?"

"But none of that is related to the problem of the Fire Nation!" protested Katara, "Didn't you say The United Republic was created after the war?"

"Yes."

"Then how did the war end? I'm sure it was in your history books! And what is different about the world now?"

"Wait," said Bolin suddenly to Yakone, "How did you meet your wife? Did you see any spirity stuff?"

"_How was that more relevant to the conversation than talking about our future lives?_" muttered Tarrlok.

"Well," said Yakone, "It is quite an amusing story. I accidentally fell into my wife's family's sea prune stand and she got angry and wanted money for the prunes I crushed. I offered to compensate by taking her out for dinner and then we got married. That's that."

"Father, what about the betrothal necklace?"

"What about it?"

"It's eerie."

"What kind of eeriness? Where did you get it? Does it give off a strange unsettling energy?"

"Yeah! Exactly like that! Dad stepped on it when he was walking home after knocking into my mother."

"My father has an orange stone that feels exactly like that too! He said it hit him on the hand and caused him to drop his machete down a cliff while he was taking a walk with my mom, and the cliff collapsed and he and mom were caught in the avalanche. They blocked up an entire strait and it took them almost three days to climb home. But somehow, they survived so dad thought the stone was lucky or something."

"Didn't you and Sokka wreck a canoe there as well?"

"Yeah! And Sokka kept blaming me because I was a girl! I can't believe such a sexist person could be born in the Southern Water Tribe."

"Hey! What are you implying about the Northern Water Tribe?"

"Just kidding."

"Wait, Katara," interrupted Korra, "How old were you when you and Sokka went fishing?"

"How did you know we were fishing?"

"Just guessing. And how old were you?"

"Uh, fourteen."

"Was it a couple weeks before the summer solstice?"

"Yeah."

"Did you mention something about...washing Sokka's dirty socks?"

"Yeah...that was _incredibly_ weird that you knew."

"Heh, yeah. And when you got really ticked off, did you crack an iceberg in half?"

"No, I actually broke off a big piece of ice that we were on and sent us rocketing back up the strait. Pretty lucky if I say so myself. We got home a lot quicker than our mom and dad did."

"Hhhmm…."

"Why is this so important to know?"

"I think the rocks are from the spirit world."

"Blowing up a giant spirit tree that caused little pieces of rocks to fly out of the spirit world and completely change the course of time? Sounds _reeeeal_ plausible."

"Do you really think little pieces of rock can change the future so drastically?"

"What other explanation is there?"

"..."

"Hey guys, shouldn't we check out the tree of time to see if it's okay?"

"No." said Korra turning to everyone else. "We will help you defeat the Fire Nation first. However, it is very important that nobody finds out about who we really are. Or anything about the spirit world. If someone asks about us, tell them we are orphans.

"At this point, it's true anyways."

_Oh. That kind of sucks._ thought Tarrlok sympathetically, then changed the topic, "Hey, you guys still didn't finish telling us about yourselves."

"Oh, sorry. I'm Korra, ex-avatar. I've fought pro-bending, that's a sport by the way, and I've mastered all the elements. But I'm pretty bad with spiritual stuff. Although, now that the avatar spirit has been ripped out, I think I'm either a waterbender of a non-bender. " she said ruefully. "Oh yeah, and I'm the daughter of a banished heir to being chief in the North pole so I grew up in the South."

"Oh." said Katara blanky, "Sorry about that?"

"Don't be." she replied tonelessly, "Mako, you're up!"

"Hi, Mako here. Uh, I'm a firebender-"

"WHAT!"

"How?!"

"Get that creature out of here!"

"Send him back to the Fire Nation!"

"He'll burn down everything!"

"WATCH WHAT YOU SAY ABOUT MY BROTHER!" cried Bolin as he lept up and stomped the ground so hard that it vibrated and dust floated down from the rafters. "He is not Fire Nation! He's from the future where everything is nice and all the nations can live together!"

"So you parents are from different nations?" asked Yakone a bit disdainfully, "Who would marry a person of fire?"

"Fire isn't bad! In fact, we all use fire to heat our house and cook our food! So what's wrong?"

"The Fire Nation is wrong-"

"Okay!" injected Tarrlok, "We're getting off topic again!"

"...Uh, back to me?" said Mako, scratching the back of his head, "'Kay, I have the same level of experience as Korra and Bolin. Oh, yeah, and I was a cop for a while. So...moving on..." finished Mako awkwardly as he gestured for the strange twins to continue.

"I am Eska."

"I am Desna."

"Desna is a man's name though-Ow!" said Hahn while Noatak elbowed him in the ribs.

"Do you dare insult my masculinity, deplorable, uncouth turtleduck?" queried Desna with a cold, dangerous look on his face.

"...well, what k-"

"Hahn," interrupted Noatak, "Do us all a favor and shut up."

"Bu-"

"Seriously," added Korra, "If we are going to bring back the moon someday, you want to be in the good graces of these two."

"Are you master waterbenders?" asked Pakku curiously.

"Indeed. As the chief's offspring, we have been instructed from infancy in the intricacies of both physical and spiritual aspects of waterbending."

"So, basically, I'm surrounded by a bunch of gifted water tribe royalty?" muttered Tarrlok, "Wow, I feel like such a peasant right now."

"Get over yourself, peasant." said Katara with a smirk, "Okay, who's next? Oh yes, Aang, finish introducing yourself."

"I'm Aang, an airbender from the Southern Air Temple, and I've never really fought anyone before. We aren't supposed to fight each other in the air nation!" He said cheerfully.

"If you are the avatar," snapped Gran Gran, "You do not belong to a nation. You belong to the World, and if the world requires a small bit of violence for peace, you must do it."

"Well, I'm sure the the rest of the world could convince the fire nation to stop attacking if they...they...what's that word...? Oh! _negotiated_. My friend Kuzon was from the fire nation and he _negotiated_ with me all the time!"

At that moment, Tarrlok swore he could hear the sound of every person simultaneously facepalming themselves.

How could the savior of the world be this naive, immature twelve-year-old boy?

–

a/n: REVIEW AND CRITICIZE POR FAVOR! and check out my poll. on my profile. IT IS OF UTMOST SIGNIFICANCE!


	15. (not so) Fond Reunions

a/n: Sorry if the author's note about shipping in the last update sounded like a rude command! I kinda just wanted to give a warning that some ship recommendations won't show up in the fic later on.

Also, this chapter starts with Zuko in the spirit library.

Also, my poll is closed now.

Also, nothing you recognize belongs to moi!

–

Zuko never thought reading could actually feel good. But now, when his mind was occupied with the essence of pure truth within the ancient tomes, he didn't have to think about the war, or his nation, or his family, or his honor, or even his own existence. But after countless hours of research, his head felt like it would explode, and his stomach felt like it would implode. He decided it was time to find the professor and head out of the desert to get supplies.

_Food sounds really appealing right now... _

Plus, he wanted brush and paper to take notes on everything he discovered.

_I wonder if Wan Shi Tong will allow us to borrow anything? _

Maybe. Most of the information he found was on scrolls, so it would be very convenient to carry in his..._Right. Don't have anything to carry it in._

He sighed to himself and got up from his crosslegged position on the floor of the spiritual wing of the library. Hopefully, he would be able to drag the professor away from his precious books for a few days so they wouldn't starve to death. Unless the knowledge seekers are willing to turn into food seekers. No, those little foxes would never do anything for anyone other than that arrogant owl. Speaking of which, where is he?

As Zuko turned aroung the corner, the strangest sight met his eyes. Wan Shi Tong and the professor were sitting on the ground in deep discussion, surrounded by piles of books, and playing _Pai Sho_. The crazy spirit of "I will turn you into a stuffed head of anthropology" was playing _PAI SHO_.

_All they need is some tea and I swear these guys would have been uncle's best friends..._

"Professor," called Zuko, "We should leave."

"I'm not leaving. I could lose it's location forever!" said professor Zei while contemplating his next move, "I've spent too long trying to find this place."

"Come on, you can't stay here forever. And you can read while we're gathering supplies if you want."

"But there's not another collection of knowledge like this on Earth! I could spend an eternity in here." he finished passionately, placing a fist full of scrolls over his heart.

"Well, let's make sure you can live an eternity first." snapped Zuko, tugging the professor up by the arm.

"Hey, I don't want to leave!"

"Do you want to die?"

"Eerrrrrrmm..."

"We'll come back."

"We won't find it again!"

"We will, we'll get a map, or call a knowledge seeker or whatever. You'll be here again, I promise."

The professor sighed resignedly and looked back longingly at at his little nest among the scrolls and and pai sho board.

At the same time, Wan Shi Tong scrutinized them and said, "Perhaps not all humans are selfish beings. Or will you abuse this knowladge at the first test of your integrity?"

"If all this knowledge came from the mortal world, why should it not be applied back to it?" sniped Zuko in response,

"Hmm." hummed the owl noncomittally with a considering look back at Zuko. Slowly, he replied, "I think I will allow you to return. Bring more humans who are not embeciles when you come back. It is high time for the human race to better themselves."

Zuko simply rolled his eyes and dragged a mutinous professor back up the rope, back into the word outside.

–

A week later, Zuko and the professor found themselves rooting around in a wrinky-dink fishing village on the edge of a swamp. Zuko scowled fiercely as he hauled around heavy crates of stinky fish for a couple copper pieces a day. It was a tiring, humiliating job, and paid barely enough to feed him now; how would he be able to buy enough food to last a person another journey through the desert? Especially since sandsailing was out of question since the professor would be travelling against the wind on the way back?

Well, at least the professor was having a bit more luck in terms of employment; being an educated man, he was able to attain a slightly better paid job in the village's tiny, pathetic library, even though he was a complete stranger.

_I hope this doesn't draw too much attention to us._ thought Zuko. Two strangers showing up from the middle of nowhere? It would raise eyebrows anyplace. But fortunately, this village was so tiny and backwards that it wouldn't recieve any attention from the Fire Nation. Zuko had no doubt that his name was wanted by now, now that he was a fugitive. Just like before.

_Now that I thinks about it, this place does look awfully familiar..._

_Holy mother of Agni,_ It was that village where that bullying jerk with the double Dao started picking on Uncle, making him dance for that one measly gold piece.

_It sure would be nice to steal the dao from that guy now._ he thought ruefully.

His swords were always quite useful. But alas, they were still in his apartment in Ba Sing Se. Being inspected by Azula. _Shit_. He wouldn't be able to use them anymore, not without drawing more attention than his scar already did. Or maybe he could, after all; there were many people in the earth kingdom with knowledge of the double blades.

As his shift ended, Zuko wiped sweat off his brow and stretched out the sore muscles on his back. He glanced around to see whether someone was watching him, and surriptitiously slipped a couple fish in his pocket. On his way home, he felt a little shame at stealing from his employer.

_But the fish merchant's rich; he can afford to lose a little profit, and it's not as if I don't work the hardest out of all his staff..._

He could almost hear uncle's voice over his plethora of excuses: _There is no reason to stealing, just as there is no cure for other's greed..._

Well, there is also no cure for starving to death, so Zuko would take some fish today. He also needs to get himself some weapons. Maybe he could bargain with...

"Li! Come here!" yelled the professor urgently from a hill in the distance, "Hurry!"

Zuko turned and sprinted up the hill to see what was wrong, and did a double take when he saw Zei dragging down an iguana parrot by the claw.

"Li! I need your help! I found a strange creature and I want to take measurements! I can put this information in the library!"

_Of course it was something as trivial as a little bird._ He thought irritably. But he could'e sworn he saw something just like it before. Where had he last seen that reptilian bird? It looked awfully familiar...

_Damnit_! Zuko cursed when he finally realized where the bird came from. He wanted to shoot a violent fireblast at the sky in rage.

_ Why does the universe hate me so much?_ he asked himself as he rushed to the Zei

"Professor! Get out of here!"

"Why? What's wrong?"

"That thing belongs to-"

"YOU!?" Exclaimed a ratty, smirking, puffy lipped, pierced eared pirate in that just came over the edge of a hill, "I thought we gotcha dead!"

"Oh, Li, do these sailors know you? What are they doing?"

"High risk trading, of course." Sneered the pirate, reaching for a smoke bomb.

But before he could throw it, Zuko blasted a fireball at his face and delivered a bruising kick to his chest.

_ I hope no one saw me firebend..._

"Barker Oh yeh moron!" shouted the Pirate Captain, "Wot'r yeh doin'!? Getcher grimey head into the fight!"

_Of course the pirates just happen to show up now._ thought Zuko angrily as he pushed Zei down the hill, away from the battle. He didn't want the battle-deficient bookworm to end up killed or maimed. Then, he spun around and saw..._Oh_, was his name, wasn't it? unsheathe his twin butterfly swords and reach for another bomb. Zuko hurriedly sent a fire whip parallel to the ground, tripping the pirate, before twisting one of Oh's wrists to make him release a sword.

As the sword clattered to the ground, Zuko saw the other pirates storm into the tiny fishing town, as well as the pirate captain surging towards him with a sword in hand.

"Looks like yer off yer high horse now, princey." jeered the Captain, "Where's yer little crew? Did they finally realize wot a brat yeh are?"

_Do not respond, do not respond, do not respond..._

Too late; the captain's words caused a surge of anger through Zuko. He snarled and swooped down to pick up the sword he had disarmed from Oh, simultaneously dodging a blow to his neck.

Unfortunately, Pirate Oh happened to be standing right behind Zuko, and was not able to duck the blow.

The result was a mortified captain, his decapitated pirate lieutenant, and a very blood spattered prince.

Zuko looked on horror for a moment at the rapidly dilating puddle of crimson around Oh, but snapped to his senses when the extremely pissed pirate captain charged at him with a roar. He hastily grabbed the other butterfly sword out of the dead pirate's hand and swung it around to test it.

_Hmmm, not as long and sweeping as my pair of swords. _

He would have to stab and fight in close combat; not an easy feat when the opponent had a considerably longer sword. Maybe he shouldn't stay and fight the captain; the tiny village was sure to be in chaos right now and could probably use his help. Nodding once to himself, he decisively sprinted into the village, away from the raging pirate captain, and started helping the vigilantes.

–

Zuko furiously stabbed and slashed with his swords, but he really didn't have a clue how to use them. Finally, a pirate tried to stab him in the neck, and he simply couldn't hold back the torrents of fire that erupted from his hands in fear.

Suddenly, all fighting ceased as every person turned to gape at him

"That boy!"

"He's a firebender!"

"He's must be conspiring with the pirates!"

"I knew that newcomer was up to no good!"

"Catch that ratty little librarian friend, he must have information."

"Sieze him too!"

"Kill them!"

"Down with the fire nation!"

"But I'm not fire nation!" shouted Zei futilely

_Okay...time to flee _thought Zuko while grabbing the professor's arm, desperately trying to formulate a plan in the span of three seconds.

Then he realized that none of the pirates were on the ship! If Zuko took it, the crazy people who were out for their blood would be completely landlocked, and he and the professor can either resell the stolen goods or return them for a reward. They could split the profit and go off on their own endeavors. Zuko knew that he wanted to visit the ruins of the Sun Warrior civilization. He hoped to pick up some sort of knowledge about the nature of fire from there, since anything to do with firebending in the library was destroyed Probably by Zhao..._Asshole_.

Speaking of which, Zuko decided that he would give the professor at least enough to buy himself a rhinoceros beetle and a couple months of supplies. He didn't want the professor to find the library and starve to death from his own stubbornness; in the past few weeks, the professor really grew on Zuko. Sadly, they would probably have to part ways soon. Oh well, they might meet again after they're done with their adventures.

_Things were looking up for once._

_Perfect_. He thought as he sailed away, glancing back smugly at a village full of enraged people. _They were so busy fighting they didn't even realize that their own ship had set sail..._

_–_

a/n: CLARIFICATIONS: remember in the episode with the waterbending scroll and those pirates? That one really ugly pirate is named "Oh." like...his name is _Oh_. Check it up on the avatar wiki.

Also, I edited some previous chapters if anyone wants to see. They aren't all that different, so you won't be missing any foreshadowing and whatnot by not going back.

AND I HAVE 19 REVIEWS! SQUEEEEEEEE! (even though it's not a lot...so ples refiew moooooooar)


	16. Sadder Than the Saddest Story

a/n: nothing belongs to me, and in this chapter, Korra goes a bit loco, and everyone's ooc.

–

Back in the Southern Water Tribe village, Tarrlok was taking notes and drawing out their battle plans since he had the neatest ("girliest" smirked Noatak as Tarrlok glared) handwriting. After being briefed about how they won in the other timeline, the two water tribes planned out their next move.

"So, we're going to just sail Aang to the North pole and hope that he gets Yue into the spirit world? That's a pretty crap plan."

"No, If we're bringing the moon fish spirit thing back into the physical world, we'll probably need the tangible remains."

"If Zhao killed it, wouldn't it be completely incinerated by now?"

"Zhao looks like a monkey."

"_Bolin_..."

"Sorry…."

"Yah know, Admiral Choi's probably keeping it as a trophy."

"It's Zhao you imbecile."

"Hmmm, but good point. Zhao does seem like a power-flaunting braggart."

"Yeah! I bet he keeps it on display!"

"So do we try to bring Yue onto the ship or the fish corpse to her?"

"Let's see if we can infiltrate his ship first. We can try to capture some soldiers and take their uniforms."

"I'LL lead the mission. I know the most about him since I led the expedition last time."

"For La's sake! You literally ruined the whole mission! everyone would have frozen and drowned if it weren't for Noatak!"

"Stay on topic people! By the way Korra, what other important things happened during this time?"

"Oh, Aang had to go meet Avatar Roku, the previous Avatar, on the solstice. At Crescent Island"

"Where is that? We need to go there and educate the Avatar before we do anything else."

"Wait, how am I supposed to meet a dead person?"

"By meditating."

"Oh. Cool! I'm pretty good at that."

"That makes one of us."

"Wait, so you were the Avatar in the future?"

"Yep."

"Ooo! You can teach me then!"

"Actually, I can't really bend."

"What!?"

"Hey kid, did you not hear any of that stuff she said about having the avatar spirit ripped out of her?"

"Eerrrm….she wasn't kidding?"

"*_Sigh*_. Future Katara wasn't lying when she said you were just a goofy kid. We're going to meet Roku. C'mon, pay attention!"

"Well, if you remembered that I met the previous Avatar, couldn't you tell me what he said?"

"Well, I'm sure someone mentioned it to me, but I kinda forgot."

"Oh Korra, such a pretty little hypocrite." teased Tarrlok against his better judgement.

"AARRG! You know what!?" She yelled suddenly, "YOU CAN STOP INSULTING ME, GROW A SOUL, AND GET YOUR HUMONGOUS, INFLATED HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS!"

The ensueing silence in the room was so thick it would take nothing short of an ax to break. Tarrlok blinked slowly, looking very affronted and the slightest bit fragile for a moment.

Then Noatak smirked with a vengeance and he poked his brother on the shoulder, trying to cheer him up. "Hey bro, I think she's telling you to stick it somewhere else." he mocked quietly with a suggestive nod at Korra, causing all the young men in the room to choke down their snickers while the three girls and older people in the room glared daggers at him.

Korra simply slammed her fist on the floor and stormed out of the room, but not before hearing Aang innocently ask, "What's wrong? What's an ass?"

–

Later that day, Katara sat down on a little ice bench next to a very sullen looking Korra and said, "Hey, is it okay with you if we all leave for Creasant Island in a week?"

"Yeah," replied Korra morosely, "Yeah, it's fine."

Katara sighed and asked, "What's wrong?"

"What? Nothing's wrong, I just had a lapse in judgement back there. Sorry about that, by the way. I'm sure everyone thinks I'm unstable now."

"Well, they should be sympathizing with you. You lost all your bending, right?"

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry about that. Is there any way to heal the elements other than water?"

"No. The power to bend all the elements comes with the avatar spirit. I don't have that anymore. Besides, the duty belongs to Aang now." she said without too much conviction.

"Yeah well, we'll see about that little kid..." sighed Katara again while placing a hand on Korra's shoulder, "Listen, I know you probably feel like you're alone, but you're not. The fire nation took away the moon. Every waterbending feels the loss of their bending. I mean, I wasn't even a trained bender, but I always felt the moon and ocean shifting inside me, and one day, the swirling just...stopped, and became empty and painful." She looked away. "I can't imagine losing that sensation for four elements though."

Karra hummed noncommittally.

"You know, if you ever need a friend who's a girl, I'm always here," said Katara with a small grin, "Or some of the other girls in the village if you can convince that you're..well...girly."

"I'm not. I always did get along with guys better."

"Yeah, I thought so. I also thought you would get along really well with Noatak and Tarrlok, but you really hate them, especially Tarrlok. They aren't the same people as they were in your old world...you know. I mean, their father is pretty slippery and vengeful, and did a bit of illegal smuggling in the black market, but the two brothers are actually pretty nice people."

"I'm sorry, I've been bloodbent by both of them, and it was excruciating. One of them nearly destroyed Aang's family, the last of the last of the air nation, and one of them turned an entire city council into his puppets." said Korra with a hint of a challenge, "I'm still just a little wary of them, okay? And what did you mean their father is 'vengeful,' what went wrong in this life?"

"Something really awful happened to them. I'll tell you, but make sure you don't let them know. I had to catch Tarrlok really drunk at a party in order to make him spill the prunes about what happened, and he would be very embarrassed if you started pitying the three of them."

Korra gaped at Katara. "Okay, I'm not even going to ask how that happened." she said, strangely intrigued by the idea of a drunk Tarrlok. "So, what did he tell you about themselves?"

"Well, after their parents got married, they moved to a village in the southwest. Then, about, eh, fifteen years or so ago, their village was attacked by the fire nation."

"Did their mother die?"

"Not from the fire nation."

"Then-"

"Let me finish!" said Katara irritably, "Their mother had recently given birth to a baby girl."

"Oh no...they didn't kill...they couldn't have..."

"They did. And their mother became severely depressed afterwards."

"What happened then?"

"Pretty much the entire, tiny village was destroyed by the fire nation raid by the time Yakone defeated the soldiers in his house. He went absolutely berserk and annihilated two entire shipfuls of people. Tarrlok said Noatak covered his eyes, but he could feel the warm blood in his shoes when they fled."

"Where did they go?" asked Korra, horrified by the tale.

"To a neighboring village. Although Noatak and Tarrlok were unharmed, their mother and father were severely injured. In fact, Yakone was so terribly burned that he can't bend anymore. Even with a moon out. I think the firebenders destroyed most of his major Qi points. He curses their very existence. In fact, I'm surprised he didn't try to kill your firebending friend with his bare hands."

"Oh Spirits..."

"And the worst thing is, as the years passed, their mother, whose name was Auma by the way, became extremely withdrawn, and started showing suicidal tendencies. Yakone was mortally terrified that she would end her own life, so he moved their entire family back to the capital so she could go through therapy."

"And she didn't make it?"

"For a while, she was improving. But she ended her life when she thought Noatak died on the failed mission to infiltrate Zhao's fleet."

"That's...that's terrible. You know, in my old life, our Tarrlok told me the story of his childhood when I stumbled on him after he was captured by Amon, or Noatak. I thought that was the saddest story I'd ever heard, but I change my mind now. The universe really hates their family, doesn't it?"

"Yes. I hope you understand now. Things like this take much longer than a decade to overcome. Being an overzealous, flirty, jerk is kind of like his coping mechanism, but he's actually still a little fragile, but friendly, smart, and genuinely sweet towards other people. Also, I think he seriously does like you. Just try to be understanding of them, Okay?"

"Okay," said a male voice a little way's behind them.

The two girls whipped around at the sound and saw Mako and Bolin standing a few steps behind where they were sitting, looking thunderstruck by the tale.

"Damnit!" exclaimed Katara in frustration, "You guys weren't supposed to hear that!"

"Why? We can keep lips sealed!"

"Your brother can. You can't." she deadpanned as fiddled with her hair loopies nervously. "Crap, Tarrlok's going to get so mad at me."

"It's fine."

Once again, the entire group of them whipped around to see Tarrlok, Noatak, and the Twins standing to the side.

"Are..are you sure? I mean, I didn't exactly use the best method to get the informtion in the first place..."

"Well, at least you taught my harebrained little brother to not let nasty girls take advantage of him while he's drunk."

Tarrlok responded with a punch to Noatak's arm. "Stops with the innuendos you idiot. And you know what Katara, You forgot to extoll Noa's delicate, little goody two shoe character. Did you know that when he was five-"

"Shut up."

"Heh." he chuckled, then stared pensievely into the distance.

Korra looked at him, and took a deep breath. "Ahem...um...uh, Tarrlok?"

"Ahem...um...uh, yes?" he replied smugly.

"Sorry for overreacting back there." She said scratching the back of her head in discomfort.

"I think 'overreact' is a little bit of and understatement..."

"Okay, I'MREALLYSORRYFORBEINGAHORRIBLYSTUBBORNMORONANDPLEASEFORGIVE ME?"

"Fine..." he sighed lightheartedly while plopping down on the bench next to her. "I guess I'll have to accept your overzealous apology. But no pity parties, okay? I am the most confident, awesome, and attractive person alive, yes?" he said absently without looking at anyone.

"Yeah yeah, Mr. Ego.." replied Korra while turning around to see the rest of her friends. To her dismay, Mako was looking at the two of them with something suspiciously akin to jealousy.

_What's his problem? It's not like I'm an active participant of Tarrlok's stupid flirt fest in any way, and even if I was, it's not like Mako hadn't broke up with me like a month ago..._

"You know," observed Katara out of the blue, "If Sokka was here, he'd be your best friend right now." she said to Tarrlok.

"Of course 'Mr. Meat, Sarcasm, and Boomerang' guy would get along with the youngest, most immature person."

"Hey! I'm almost half a month away from being 20, okay! I'm very mature and cultured, if I do say so myself." Tarrlok said with a ridiculous pose of mock pretentiousness. "Besides, the youngest guy is now little Bozo over here."

"Bozo?" snorted Noatak _in a vary un-Amon-ish manner_.

"Hey!"

"Honestly, Sokka would really like the goofy little guy too."

"Hey, stop talking in third person! I'm standing right here!"

"They're just joking Bolin."

"Do you know how incredibly wierd it is that they are joking about me?"

"I just think it's wierd to see them in normal people clothing." said Mako

"Well...Mr. evil firebender-"

"Holy crappy spirits Amo...Noatak! We are not from your time!" blurted out Korra. "In our time, your family are terrible people, and we're trying not to hate you now! So stop being so judgemental of Mako! He isn't even fire nation!"

"Well aren't you a feisty one."

"Screw-"

"Noa, stop riling them up. But seriously Korra, You need to learn how to react to things like a normal person."

"You're telling me to be nor-"

"Hi guys!" greeted Aang, zooming out of a tent on an air scooter.

"Wait!" interrupted Bolin, "This...this, is the youngest guy."

"What?" asked Aang quizzically.

"Nothing."

"Oh, I just wanted to ask if you guys wanted to go penguin sledding before we leave!"

The group of young adults looked at Aang's grinning face incredulously. Then, Tarrlok said in amusement, "Why not? None of us have had fun in years."

"Whoo!" yelled Aang in triumph as he streaked away in a gust of wind and displaced snow. "PENGUINS!"

–

a/n: this is not the last time Korra will be unstable.

And Review! any criticism is welcome!


	17. Imprisoned and Escaped

a/n: nothing belongs to me, and you'll meet a new character in this chapter!

In the southern border of the former Fire Nation Colonies, a young man under the alias of "Li" hid his new boat in a small alcove on the delta across a forest from Omashu. He had recently sold all the curios in the pirate ship in Omashu's extensive black market; he also sold the ship itself to a fishing village while sailing out of the bay from the city. Then, he used all the money to buy supplies and a rhinocerous beetle for Zei, who was eagerly planning another trip to the library.

Using the leftover money (which was still a lot) he purchased a small boat for himself, as well as a small steam engine that he needed to either heat by hand himself, or buy coal for. This was the reason he was docking, (_was it considered docking, if he didn't land at a dock_?) in the woods. He hoped to find a mining village close by.

Finally, he finished concealing his boat, and dusted himself off while planning the next leg of his journey. He would need enough coal to last him a trip nearly as far as the Western Air Temple, because he knew the Sun Warrior civilization was around there.

He needed a disguise as well. Hopefully, he wouldn't be recognized by anyone if he put on some dirty clothes and a bamboo hat. He would look just like any other mix blooded colonial.

_ I'm slipping into this peasant 'Li' alibi a little too well_. Thought Zuko with slight concern as he started walking down a dirt trail.

–

Half an hour later, Zuko arrived at a tiny, shabby mining town on the seashore, with sweaty, dirty children sorting through coal on the streets near a store entrance. They looked at him with a mixture of suspicion and hope. Taking pity, Zuko pulled out a pack of leechi nuts and tossed it over. The children immediatly beamed at him in a way that made him distinctly uncomfortable.

He waved back and stiffly asked, "Can I buy coal here?"

The kid in the front, instead of answering, replied with, "Why aren't you working?"

"I'm not from around here." he replied.

"Who are you?"

"A traveller."

"From where?"

"Around."

"Why do you have a scar?"

"Look kid, can I just get coal?" he said gruffly.

The boy _hmmfed_ mutinously and led him into the shop. There, he saw a gray haired woman with a green headband who was counting a pitiful box of change from behind the counter.

She looked up in surprise as he walked into the shop. "Hello, young man. How can I help you?"

"May I buy some coal?"

The woman sighed a bit sadly and got up to open a barrel. "I'm sorry, there's only this much left." she said, showing him the almost empty container, "I'll have to charge you a little extra." she said.

"How do you have so little? This is a mining town!"

The lady looked at him shrewdly and asked, "You're not from around here, are you?"

"Well..."

"Almost all the coal is being used to fuels Ozai's ships or the homes of the wealthy Fire Nation Nob-" here she broke off at the sound of a banging at the door.

"OPEN UP!" yelled a soldier's voice.

The woman frowned anxiously and scurried to the door. In came a tall, soldier with a goatee, glancing around contemptuosly.

"What do you want?" snapped the woman bravely. "I've already paid you this week."

The soldier, looking irked by her tone, glared and cooly replied "The tax just doubled. Wouldn't want an accident, would we?" he threatened with a smirk, bringing a fireball close to the flinching woman's face. "Fire is sometimes so hard to control..."

The woman backed away fearfully went to retrieved her box of coins, which the soldier snatched up and emptied into his hands. All the while, Zuko's fingers itched for an Agni Kai with this bullying excuse of a firebender.

Then, the soldier tossed the remaining coins on the floor and strutted out while spitting disdainfully, "Keep the copper."

_I can't believe this is how soldiers are brought up to act. Like common thugs._

Zuko grimaced as he thought of how brainwashed he had been to blindly believe that his country, his father was superior to everyone else on the planet. It had taken him a while, but he had finally realized how screwed up his own family was, why all those poor people with nothing but the ratty clothes on their back were so much happier than anyone at the royal palace. He finally realized that love, kindness, and trust were not signs of weakness.

Then he was snapped out of his thoughts when the soldier slammed the door and left. Meanwhile, the old woman slumped to the ground to pick up the rest of the coins.

Zuko helped her up and asked, "How long have they been in this town?"

"Thirteen years. They've enslaved us thirteen years now."

"Oh." he rubbed the back of his head and looked up awkwardly, panicking when he met her narrowed, suspicious eyes.

_ Crap. Should've just quickly bought some stuff and left._

"Why do you have yellow eyes?" she asked mistrustfully.

"I, uh-"

"Are you fire or earth?"

"Actually-"

"You must be earth. Not even the fire nation would be so cruel to it's _own_ children." she said, eyeing his scar, "Why then, do you have yellow eyes? Or are you a runaway?"

"_My name is Li!_" he bellowed, hoping the Earth Kingdom alibi would convince her.

She squinted once more, then decided to leave it. "Very well. You should leave now." she said. "I hope you have a good future, Li." she said looking away sadly once more.

Zuko gaped at her for a moment, then quickly left the shop.

_What in the name of dragon fire was wring with her?_ He thought to himself as he exited the shop, coal in tow.

–

By the time Zuko got back to the place he hid his boat, it was already late afternoon, perfect for a nap before he set off under the cover of night. He layed down on a roll of blankets, pondering what had occurred in the shop, especially the tone of voice she had taken when she said "_it's own children_." Perhaps she had lost a child to the war and that was why she acted so unbalanced.

_ If that was the case, better that her child died on their feet than lived on their knees... _was Zuko's last thought as he drifted to sleep.

–

Later in the night, Zuko cruised along in his small, and amazingly efficient little steam boat. He added another fistful of fire, and some seawater to the steam engine, and took a little break to study the night sky. He watched the stars for a long time...and clouds...and..._wait, was that smoke?_ Where would smoke be coming from?

Zuko glanced around and saw a light flash by in the distance.

_Oh for love of Agni_, they're searchlights! And they were coming from a looming steel rig up ahead. It must be one of those metal prisons for earthbenders! He and Azula were eavesdropping when the man who came up with them proposed, for the first time, to make earthbender prisons out of metal instead of wood.

_But this was irrelevant to my current fiasco!_ He thought, desperately trying to turn the boat around. Then suddenly, a clanging alarm sounded in the distance and he heard the sound of metal boats being splashed into the water.

_Screw it_, he thought as he charged full speed with his boat only half turned away from the rig.

He blasted waves of blazing fire into the furnace, sending out a trail of sparks as he whipped through the water, long hair flying out of his face and adrenaline coursing through his veins.

_And he was actually getting away!_ Good thing too; he would hate to be taken to the fire nation to become a plaything for his sister. That girl was one psychotic maniac that he would not want to ever meet again.

Just when he thought he would outpace the ships, he heard a "thunk" as a metal claw and cable attached itself to the side of his boat. Zuko groaned and took out his stolen twin butterfly swords and tried to pry the claw off, but to no avail.

Panicking, he dove off the side of the boat into the cold, churning gray sea below.

He floundered, surrounded by stinging black saltwater on all sides and...a squid?

Panicking, he lurched backwards into another one of its tentacles. It was closing in on all sides! He tried to cut it, but his swords wouldn't bite through, and he was gradually being dragged-_up_?

He gasped when his head broke out of the water, then realized he was encircled, not by a squid, but by a net.

From a ship.

From the rig.

Zuko's heart sank.

–

Zuko felt extremely cranky after listening to the warden, a soulless, mustached psychopath, gloat extensively about how capturing him, the traitor prince, would earn prestige with his father, Ozai. Then, the stupid man continued to say something about how he wouldn't be stuck on this stupid steel raft caring for 'ungrateful guests.'

"Take him away." He said to his guards with a smirk, "And make sure he's locked up tight. Wouldn't want such a catch to escape back into the ocean now, would we." He finished with an obnoxious laugh.

The guards, who looked excited, but a bit confused, obviously didn't find anything funny about the warden's joke. Upon seeing their stoic faces, the warden became angry and smashed his fist against the table.

"That was a joke!" he snarled, "LAUGH."

The guards tittered a bit nervously as they left the room, holding Zuko's steel encased fists tightly.

_Great. I'm stuck on this metal thing in the middle of the ocean, dripping wet, with a bunch of fire-hating earthbenders and a sociopathic warden. And then I get to go back to the Imperial Palace, where I will either be slowly tortured to death or stuck in a cell for the rest of my days. Yay._

Honestly though, he didn't feel the dread or rage that normally came whenever he encountered any misfortune. In fact, he hadn't really felt much of anything ever since Uncle died. No rage, peace, hate or happiness. Just numbness, and perhaps a little desire to do good to the world like uncle would expect.

Oh well. If he died, the world would still go on. Maybe he could even find Uncle in the spirit world!

With that positive thought in mind, he entered his pitch black cell, and stumbled to the corner with a small smile. Then, he felt a prickling glare boring into the back of his neck, where all his hairs were sticking up on end. He whipped around and lit a fireball in his fist.

To his surprise, there was another person in the room, a fairly young man with a dirty headband and large, angry green eyes. Zuko was about to talk, but was cut off when he suddenly felt the other person's hands close around his throat.

_What the hell! I should've know better than to firebend around these pyrophobic people!_

Zuko reprimanded himself for being so careless, but was brought back by an oncoming lightheadedness.

Sighing inwardly, be concentrated all his heat to his neck, but found it difficult for some reason.

_Oh crap._

He suddenly remembered that fire comes from the breath! Which he had none of because this moron was choking him!

Panicking now, he thrust his elbow forwards and delivered a bruising blow to his insane prison mate's solar plexus. He felt the other man fall back a few steps, buying Zuko time to take in some air. He immediately took several rapid deep breaths before raising a small fence of fire around himself. The earthbender clambered backwards, firelight dancing across his enraged face.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" yelled the crazy earthbender.

"Being a prisoner!" growled Zuko, "Did you think I came here for fun?"

"I don't know what you Fire Nati-"

"I'm not a Fire Nation citizen."

"Then what are you?"

"A fugitive, probably."

"Who are you?"

"You tell me first. I'm the one with the elements here."

"No."

Zuko sighed and looked the earthbender dead in the eyes. "I know you earth people are stubborn and all, but it would be in your best interest to speak to me. I want to break out just as much as you do."

"And why is that? How do I know you're not a spy?"

"What would I have to spy on? It's not like you have any nefarious plots of escaping or whatever!"

"And you do?"

"Yes, and I'd prefer to have an ally in it."

"I don't trust you if you won't even tell me your name."

"*_Sigh*_. Fine. You can call me Li."

"I can _call_ you Li?" replied the earthbender a tad suspiciously. "And would I be calling you by your actual name?"

_Woah, I actually got a pretty smart one here_.

"Isn't someone a smart ass."

"I'm not helping until you tell me your name, coward."

_Smart, stubborn and blunt._ He thought, scowling at the earthbender considering whether or not to reveal his identity.

Finally, he figured that he might as well tell this guy; by tomorrow, every person on the rig would probably find out that the fugitive prince was prisoner here.

"My name is Zuko." he said resignedly. "Now do I get some information on you?"

The earthbender gaped at him. "_Zuko_?" he repeated incredulously, "Not the banished prince Zuko?"

"The very same." snapped Zuko grouchily.

Even though he was quite ashamed of the fire nation, he still didn't like being reminded that he was banished from it.

"Aren't you trying to earn back your hono-"

"I stopped, okay!?" yelled Zuko, as ring of fire around him shot up with his flare of temper.

"Fine! Fine." replied the earthbender, jumping from foot to foot as the floor of the metal cell rose about fifty degrees. "Now you can get a grip on yourself!"

Deciding that his cell mate probably wasn't going to strangle in him again, Zuko slowly brought the ring of fire into a single fireball in his palm.

"You," he replied, "Can tell me your name." he snarked at the earthbender.

"Haru."

"Well, Haru, let's get out of this spirit forsaken place. What do you know about here?"

–

After a while of planning, Zuko found that Haru didn't seem to hate him that much anymore. In fact, he occasionally saw traces of grudging respect in Haru's eyes. It seemed that this dude thought that whoever was an enemy to the Fire Nation was a friend to the Earth Kingdom.

But the Fire Nation wasn't Zuko's enemy! He was the Fire Nation's enemy, but he still calls it his home, the citizens in it are still his people! And right now, the best thing for them was to not kill themselves fighting other countries.

He felt so useless though; he wasn't a great master like father, or brilliantly calculating like Azula, or even charismatic like Uncle. He was just a prickly, mediocre, awkward young man who just happened to be good at sneaking and not dying.

_Well, let's see how my mediocre awkwardness can help us escape._ He thought, turning to Haru.

"Every person on this rig an earthbender, right?"

"Yes."

"And you're sure there is no earth at all?"

"Occasionally I can feel a little extra energy, but I don't know why."

"Hmmm." thought Zuko with a deep sigh. He inhaled a mouthfull of foul dust by accident and started coughing, cursing the universe once more. Then he wiped his mouth and grimaced as he saw streaks of black. _Disgusting_. How much harder would it be to just burn wood instead of coal...

"Wait..." he exclaimed, "They burn coal here!"

"Yeah," replied Haru, with a derisive glance at him. "What of it?"

"Isn't coal, you know-"

"Earth!" whooped Haru triumphantly. "That's brilliant! But there's just one problem." He continued, face falling, "We can't get out."

"What do you mean?"

"We aren't allowed out of the cell."

"What!?" cried Zuko, "You've been in this cell for...for-"

"I've lost track of how long. I really only see light when they bring food." he said blankly, "And when they guards threw you in. And I right now. _Hmmm. _Seems like your fire does have some nice purposes after all."

Zuko was horrified! How could they never let a person see the sun! If this happened to a firebender, they would die within less than a decade without sunlight! But perhaps earthbenders only needed connection to connect to the energy of their own element, not any of the other ones. The coal must have done enough for Haru, and perhaps some of the other earthbenders too.

"Hey," he asked, "Are all the earthbenders kept in cells like this?"

"I think it's just me."

"Why?"

"I don't wanna talk about it." He snapped suddenly, looking away.

_Yeesh. This guy must be pretty tempermental if they locked him up all by himself here._

"Whatever it is, you must be pretty dangerous if they don't want you in contact with other people."

"Hardly," scoffed Haru, "I just don't comply with the gaurds all that well."

"Did you attack one?"

"Yes."

"Then you're already more dangerous than all the other people here."

"If they actually think I'm dangerous, why would they put you in this cell with me? Wouldn't two enemies of the fire nation in the same cell be more dangerous for them?"

"Okay, tell me," sighed Zuko with a raised eyebrow, "What did you do the moment I entered the cell?"

"I...oh."

"Yeah. They probably expected me to kill you for attacking me or something."

"You fire people are screwed up."

"Everyone thinks their enemies are 'screwed up.'" replied Zuko while indicating quotation marks with his fingers.

"Speaking of which, why didn't you? Kill me I mean?"

"I don't like killing people. That's more of my father and my sister's thing."

"Oh."

"So, are you going to tell me about the other earthbenders here anytime soon?"

"Uh, everyone is outside all the time repairing ships, and they break in the square outside for meals and go to little metal shacks on the right side of the rig to sleep."

"This place is used to repair ships, you say?"

"Yes."

"Excuse me for being caustic, but if you're not working, why are you still alive?"

"I'm probably being used as leverage."

"For what?"

"If the other prisoners refuse to work, they said they'd kill me. In front of them all."

"Oh. Sounds like something that the deranged warden would do."

"They did the same with my father."

"_What?"_

"I refused to listen, so they killed my father."

Zuko gaped. "Okay, that settles it. We are getting out of here tonight."

"I don't know when nighttime is. No light, remember?"

"I do." retorted Zuko, "I can feel when the sun sets."

"Ah, I think I remember on of the guards saying that fire rises with the sun, or something."

"Indeed. I want you to gather all the coal dust in theroom and see if you can make a sharp spike with it. If that doesn't work, I can try melting the cell wall."

"What about the other prisoners?"

"We can't all break out."

"Why?" asked Haru irritably.

"Because they'll have nowhere to go! They'll get captured right back here and punished severely!"

"Or they could lead guerilla warfare! They could fight the fire-"

"You remember what you said about leverage?"

"Oh. You don't seriously think they'll harm their other family to control us, do you?"

"Some will. Which is why not everyone can escape. And besides, almost the entire earth kindom has been subjugated. Most rebels are either on rigs, hiding, or executed. There aren't really any guerilla groups left."

"What if they kill someone here after I escape?"

"Then you won't know, so there'll be no point. They can't get to you if you're far away, can they? And you know what, we should rest. The sun will go down in about five hours, and we'll leave late in the night."

"Where will we go."

"Around."

"Will we ever come back for the rest of the people?"

"When the fire nation loses the war."

"But they've won already."

"So there you go."

"You know, most people in the Earth Kingdom would be too lost to do anything about the Fire Nation without a leader."

"What is your point?"

"I dunno, didn't the royal family learn stuff about leading people?"

"Yes..."

"So you can pretend to be Earth Kingdom colony slave Li, and get people to fight back."

"You realize that you're asking me to fight my own nation, right?"

"You realize that your own nation hates you, right?"

"Touché."

"So what do you say?"

"Fine. But I want to go somewhere first."

"Where?"

"Can we discuss this later? It's not anywhere that will hurt you, okay? I just want to see a historical place."

"I never thought the prince of the Fire Nation would be into archeology."

"Go to sleep."

–

Later that night, the two young men snuck down to the loading port after Haru successfully made a small lockpick out of coal dust. The journey there never felt so long; every time they had to duck for cover from a searchlight or a guard, Zuko's heart pounded with dread. Finally, they reached the metal docks and started searching for a suitable craft to escape on. To Zuko's pleasant surprise, his boat was there, with minimal damage from the metal claw, and his supplies and bag of coal still inside.

_Wow. It seems like things are finally going my way for once!_ He thought graciously while climbing in.

Silently, Haru untied the rope while they pushed off. From there on out, it was smooth sailing, both physically and metaphorically. While there were a few heart stopping instances where the searchlights almost grazed over them, the waters were calm and they managed to keep the engine burning low enough to be below notice.

_Things are looking up,_ thought Zuko, _and in a week or so, I'll arrive at my destination._

With Haru asleep and the fire burning in the furnace, Zuko sat back and thought about what Haru had said. Perhaps he should try to free the Earth Kingdom. Even if it hurts his nation's economy a little. But what was a little economic damage compared to the imbalance of energy in the world? (_Oh no! I'm turning into Uncle again!_) The Fire Nation had too much power, and the spirits were angry.

And the Avatar is probably gone and not coming back by now as well. It seemed like the power to change things rested solely in the hands of normal people now. Maybe he could help a little. Uncle would want him to, he was sure.

_And I want to. And in order to succeed, I should learn as much as I can about the nature of the elements and nations._

With that in mind, Zuko went to sleep, thinking about his destination.

–

a/n: REVIEW PLZ! And Merry Christmas! Belated or non belated!


	18. Unpleasant Discoveries

a/n: hope y'all had a good holiday! And none of this chapter (which contains dialogue that was shamelessly ripped off of the show) belongs to me! Also, I won't be writing any Kataang due to Aang being discovered eight years later. But Aang will find someone unexpected in the future!

–

A week and a half after they arrived, the Northern Water Tribe fleet was preparing to set off once again. Aang, on the other hand, refused to leave without visiting the Southern Air Temple.

"C'mon guys!" he carped. "It won't take long at all! And Appa can fly really fast too!"

"Aang," said Katara gently, "The airbenders were-"

"Are! Whatever you were saying, it's '_are_!' For right now!"

"I know it's hard to acce-"

"You don't understand, Katara!" he cried desperately, "The only way to get to an airbender temple is on a flying bison, and I doubt the Fire Nation has any flying bison." he said, patting his bison's head. "Right, Appa?"

"It's been a hundred years," sighed Katara, "A lot can change."

"For Tui and La's sake," muttered Noatak, "Just let the kid do what he wants."

"I'm just trying to help!"

"You can't protect him forever, you know."

"I'm not 'protecting him!'" snapped Katara

"Of course you are!" said Noatak bluntly, "You act like everyone's mother!"

"Well excuse me!"

"It's not a bad thing!" injected Tarrlok, "It's just a bit.._well_..."

"Overbearing" finished Noatak.

"Shush, master tactless!" said Tarrlok to Noatak before turning back to Katara, "If the Avatar needs to realize something for himself, just let him do it."

"Let him go on his own?"

"Yeah, well...we have more important-"

"No! I know he's a little kid, but he still needs to followed! He is the avatar and we need to...to help him! He's going to save us and be owe it to him to-"

"Katara-"

"NO! I know you guys don't respect him, but he needs our help! He needs us to support-"

"Katara, if you insist on going, we're coming with you."

Katara was struck speechless. Then he jumped up and tackled them in a big hug."Oh, you guys are the best!"

"Okay, okay, let's go babysit your son." said Tarrlok with a smirk.

_"He's not my son!" "I'm not her son!"_ yelled Katara and Aang simultaneously.

"Whatever..." conceded Tarrlok, backing off with his hands in the air.

"And what do you three think you're doing?" questioned a suspicious voice from behind.

The three waterbenders whipped around in alarm, staring with guilt into the narrowed eyes of Yakone and Gran Gran.

"Erm, fishing?"

"Here, you'll need these. You have a long journey ahead of you." said Gran Gran, handing them a huge sack, "It's been so long since I've had hope. But you brought it back to life, my little waterbender." she said, hugging Katara.

"And you two meatheads," barked Yakone, startling his sons, "Listen to Katara. She's the only on with a brain." he said, slapping the chagrined pair on the back.

"Yeah...okay, father."

"Aang is the Avatar. He's the world's only chance. You all found him for a reason." continued Gran Gran with a smile on her face. "Now your destinies are intertwined with his."

And with that, the two walked away.

"See! They vouch for us!" grinned Aang. "Now let's go!"

"Wait," interjected Tarrlok, "We should probably get Korra and everyone."

"Oh yes, can't forget about your unstable girlfriend and the brainless time benders."

"Hey! I heard that!" fumed Korra while bending a chunk of snow at Noatak's face.

But he downy white flakes only gave a feeble quiver.

Noatak raised an eyebrow at her while Katara looked on sympathetically. "I'm sorry Korra." said Katara, "I know it must be hard to adjust to the lack of your bending."

"Yeah, yeah it is." said Korra a little distantly.

"Not for long though!" promised Tarrlok sardonically, "We'll just head right to Cresant Island after visiting the temple, then pop right into asshole Zhao's ship and steal his little fishie. Then Aang can do some spiritual crap with Yue and _whoosh_. Moon problem solved." He said while strapping all their supplies onto Appa.

"Uh, I don't think it works like that..." said Bolin dubiously.

"I wasn't serious." replied Tarrlok from on top of the bison saddle, "Do you people not have sarcasm in the future or something?"

"No, my brother's just clueless."

"That was a rhetorical question."

"Guys!" called Aang while hopping onto Appa's head, "Stop arguing! If we leave now, we should be able to make it to the temple by tomorrow evening!"

"I don't think the Air temple is that far away..."

"Well, Appa'll get tired from carrying all these people. He'll probably need to take a break and float on the ocean for a while."

"How?"

"Well, creatures of air are usually more buoyant. But that's beside the point!" explained Aang, "It's time to leave and you should all climb on!"

The large group complied and squeezed onto Appa's Back.

"First time fliers, hold on tight!" announce Aang dramatically while taking a hold of Appa's reins, "Appa, Yip Yip!" he cried.

And with a resounding _whump_ of the sky bison's tail, they were off.

–

Less than an hour after take off, Korra decided that cramming a bunch of people, who happened to be mortal enemies from different time periods, onto a single sky bison was not smart. Needless to say, the trip was extraordinarily awkward; Aang was chattering the whole time about his life around the world 100 years ago, Tarrlok tried to respond and engage everyone in the conversation, and Bolin was making his usual tactless, insipid comments. Meanwhile, both of the not-currently-bloodbender brothers were glaring daggers at Mako; Noatak, from his general dislike of anything associated with fire, and Tarrlok, from jealousy. (_Has she ever mentioned how incredibly weird it was that Tarrlok took an interest in her?_) And seated on the very back of the saddle were the waterbending twins, the gawky third wheels. Katara, as Yakone mentioned earlier, was truly the only one with a brain in the group.

"So," started Aang, "You guys are from the future right?"

"Yeah," replied Mako.

"Then can you tell me what I'll become?"

"Well," said Korra, "The future changed because we accidentally changed something in the past. Maybe in your parent's or grandparent's generation." she said, nodding to Katara, Noatak and Tarrlok.

"Okay, so what happened to me, to all of us, in your universe? I mean, it obviously won't happen now, anymore, so it won't matter if you tell us, right?"

Korra shot a look at the Mako, the twins, and Bolin, who nodded back sympathetically. None of them really wanted to talk about it. They probably felt a bit raw from the loss of everything familiar. She knew she was; she missed the South Pole, she missed Republic city, and she missed, Tenzin, Asami, the airbending kids, her home, her destiny, and most of all, her family and her bending.

The last two especially tore he up inside; she missed her parents so much it felt like barbed wire constricted her heart with every beat. And _Naga_. Her only friend in the white lotus compound, the primary stabilizing force and partner in crime in her life. And her _bending_-the three elements she felt since she was a four, and the air she had recently discovered-it was all gone. She could no longer feel the earth, steady and stable and buzzing beneath her feet. And she felt so cold; no more fiery heat radiating from the core of her stomach, nor rejuvenating energy from the sun. And now, so recently after discovering air, the free, floating spiraling energy in her chest disappeared, replaced by a permanent heaviness.

But the most painful of all was the gap created by her first element: water. Not because she lost it though! She knew she was still a waterbender now, but the energy of the water inside was warped, twisted, and dark. They where unbalanced: push without pull, death without life, dark without light, yin without yang. It was agonizing, the way the water raged and stormed against her insides instead of flowing like it was supposed to. Korra didn't understand how any other waterbenders here dealt with it.

She could slowly feel herself slipping, it seemed harder and harder to hold together the cracks in her tough facade, to conceal the raggedness inside. She had already slipped up a few times. Rubbing her forehead head, she sighed heavily.

"Are you alright?" asked Tarrlok.

_Of course not! I lost everything in my life! What made you ask such a dumb question?_

"Yes." she replied

"Is it the bending?" asked Katara worridly, "If it makes you feel better, I was really depressed and cranky after the moon disappeared as well."

"How do you deal with it!?" cried Korra, "It feels so awful! Its like a throbbing that just drains anything good in me!"

"Well, we all lost it when we were relatively young," replied Noatak, "And we've had eight years to adapt."

"Water is the element of change, after all!" added Tarrlok.

"Oh yeah._.._"

"Korra, what do you mean?"

"What do you mean by '_what do I mean?_'"

"Well, the way you said: '_oh yeah..._' it was almost like you didn't know that stuff about water."

"Well, I kinda remembered it, but I didn't really memorize all those scrolls that my tutors made me read..."

"But you were supposed to have learned this stuff!"

"I was like, six when they started teaching me this stuff! I didn't remember all of it!"

"When you were six!?" asked Aang in surprise, "You weren't even supposed to learn that you were the Avatar until you were sixteen!"

"Well...I kinda discovered my abilities early."

"How?"

"Well, I discovered that I was a waterbender when I was three, and that I was a firebender a year later." she explained, "In fact," joked Korra, "I accidentally burned off my father's eyebrow when I was four."

Everyone on the bison stared at her open mouthed.

"At that point," she continued, "My parents and I started to suspect that I was the avatar, so I tried earth next, and it worked! However, I wasn't able to airbend at all until after you removed the other three elements from me." she finished, pointing at Noatak.

"Wow." stated Noatak, nodding to himself and Tarrlok, "And I thought we were prodigies."

"You guys were!" exclaimed Bolin, "And dead scary too. I mean, removing bending!? That was insane! And later, we realized that you were both bloodbenders, and-"

"Who exactly were we?" interrupted Tarrlok. "We weren't born to the same mother, were we? 'Cuz I' don't think women can exactly...you know...when they're sixty."

"It's called 'having children', Tarrlok," snapped Katara irritably, "Just say it."

"Fine. _Have children_."

"No, I don't think so." interrupted Korra, "In our world, Noatak was a lot taller, and more charismatic. He was also paler, although that may have been because he wore a uniform. And Tarrlok looked more, I dunno, manly."

"What!?"

"Hey, I'm not that short!" snapped Noatak. "And I can rally people if I wanted to."

"No, you can't."

In response, Noatak reached over and kicked Tarrlok in stomach.

"Guys!" shouted Aang from the front of the the bison's head, "No fighting on Appa!"

"Ugh," groaned Tarrlok, clutching his stomach, "I think I'm going to lose my noodles."

"Hey that happened to Bolin during that one probending match."

"What's probending?"

"It's a sport where you have a stage like an island, and there are earth disks underneath." explained Mako, "Then, there are three players on each team, each with a different element, and they have to fight each other. The team that moves back the farthest, or gets knocked into the water loses."

"And there's a bunch of other rules," added Bolin.

"So it's basically an earth rumble, with like, a bunch of other rules and elements."

"Yeah, I guess."

"You know, if we can bring the moon back and defeat the Fire Nation, we should re-invent probending." said Bolin.

"Yeah, it'll be a great business venture!" said Tarrlok, starting to look excited.

"Hey guys, Appa's getting tired." piped up Aang randomly, "Is it alright if we land in the water now?" he queried, pointing downwards.

"Sure thing." said Katara as they started to descend.

–

Aang leaned back on the head of his floating bison and looked at all of his new friends. They were slowly taking out blankets to go to rest for their exploration of the temple tomorrow.

He couldn't wait to show them his home! His beautiful, spiritual, tall pristine home in the mountains full of happy creatures living in harmony. It would still be there, he was sure! There was no way the Fire Nation could have gotten to them. They would need airpower in order to get up, and there was no way they could have spread a giant fire up a frozen, stone mountainside. Besides, the airbenders could just fly away! Even if the fire nation attacked them, there must be some of his people alive, right?

But still, Aang could feel a nagging dread within himself. He could sense something wrong, but didn't want to acknowledge it. It would be better to just wait and see when he gets there.

Looking back at the large group floating on Appa, Aang resolved to turn his thoughts away from the possible destruction of his home. he would contemplate his new friends instead.

His travelling buddies were quite a weird group, almost as weird as Bumi and Kuzon. Aang definitely didn't think any of them were as smart as Bumi, although Tarrlok and the two twins seemed to come pretty close. Tarrlok was definitely a clever guy. He could make anyone like him! He was the nicest, friendliest, most even tempered person Aang had ever met; so he couldn't understand why Korra hated him so much. Even if the Tarrlok in the time travellers' world was a slimy snake-eel, she should have seen how awesome he is now.

Noatak was an entirely different matter; he seemed to exude quiet power, but was pricklier than a boarcupine. How could the two of them be related? Although, it seemed that Mako and Bolin were polar opposites as well, just like the waterbending brothers. Except Bolin was not smart or tactful like Tarrlok. The earthbender seemed to blurt out whatever was on his mind, which almost always happened to be the most awkward thing possible. Aang thought Mako was just like Noatak though: responsible, quiet, prickly, and a little rough around the edges. The similarities between the two sets of siblings really were uncanny! Maybe it was just a thing for the older siblings to be tough and the younger sibling to be sociable.

Although if that were the case, then how boring would Katara's older brother be? Katara was already acting like a completely grown-up chief. (_Or would it be chiefess?_) But from what Aang had heard, Katara's brother. Sokka, was a complete goofball. But sadly, Katara said that he had left the village to look for their father. He seemed nice, Aang hoped he would be able to meet Sokka some day. It would be super cool to be friends with the future chief of the Southern Water Tribe!

Speaking of chiefs, there were those two creepy water tribe prince and princess twins on the back of the saddle who had not spoken a word since they came on. What was wrong with them? They were probably a bit gloomy from losing their bending, but Katara, and Noatak, and Tarrlok, and Korra lost their bending too, and they're still stable (_well...maybe not Korra_).

Aang couldn't understand those two teens, and he wanted to learn more about them.

"Hello!" he called, waving to them.

"Salutations, Avatar Aang." stated one of them,

_Who I think was the boy_.

"Just Aang is fine." He replied, a bit discomfited. "So, you guys are Eska and Desna, right? And you're like, sixteen? So you're pretty close to my age!"

Eska, _the girl I think_, exchanged an impassive glance with her twin, who whispered something in her ear that Aang could only catch the end of. "_-a bit older would be more advantageous than your current _engagement_._"

"Oh, you are engaged?" asked Aang, trying to keep the conversation going.

"Indeed, although my prior marital arrangement was not realized." she drawled, glaring at the earthbender, who flinched away with a theatrical expression of terror on his face.

"That's okay! I'm sure you'll meet someone in this world."

The girl gave him a face that he was pretty sure was supposed to have been a smile. It looked more like a painful grimace.

"Eska, you look constipated." snapped Korra apparently agreeing with him. "Stop trying so hard to get into powerful people's good graces."

"Apologies, cousin," she sniped tartly "For attempting to fulfill my responsibilities as the next feasible chiefess."

_Aha! So it was chiefess!_

"Okay, whatever, sorry." replied Korra with a sigh. "That was a bit out of line."

"Amnesty granted."

"Do you two know how to talk like normal people?" asked Noatak pointedly.

"Yeah."

"That was so much better than if you said 'affirmative' or something like that!" exclaimed Korra, "Why couldn't you do that when we were younger? You need to do that all the time now that there's no official people around!"

"Fine."

"Go on, say a whole sentence!" encouraged Tarrlok with a hint of a smirk.

"Fine," muttered Desna, "Shut up you annoying bastard. And stop talking to my sister like she's three."

"Isn't it someone's time of the month."

"Stop it Noatak." chided Tarrlok and Katara with simultaneous slaps to his arms.

"Sorry for this meathead's unfriendliness." said Katara, "I'm sure you are a bit shaken up from the moon as well."

"Yes." replied Desna, turning back to Noatak, "Please accept condolences for my uncouth language."

"It's fine, can you please just talk normally though?"

"Fine." said both Eska and Desna.

"Hey, shouldn't we be sleeping right now?" asked Bolin

"Yes, we should," said Katara, "Do you guys mind all sleeping on the saddle? I mean, It's going to be a bit crowded."

"I'm not sleeping with the firebender."

"I sure hope you don't want to sleep with him."

At this, Mako blanched and make an odd half coughing, half gagging noise.

"Noatak!" groaned Tarrlok gesturing to Aang, "Not in front of the child!"

"I'm not a child!"

"I can sleep on the bison's tail..." said Mako hesitantly

"You're too tall." said Eska. "Desna and I will go on the tail."

"I really wish I still had waterbending!" complained Korra, "Then we could just have an ice float for each of us."

"Well, life sucks, get used to it."

"Screw you."

"Okay, we're all tired and cranky. So just be quiet and go to sleep!" barked Katara, bundling up in her sleeping bag and resolutely turning her back on their surprised faces.

–

At noon of the next day, the group lounged around Appa's back in various states of boredom when Aang suddenly yelled with great excitement, "The Patola mountain range! We're almost there!"

"Hey Aang" started Katara with a bit apprehension, "Before we get to the temple, I want to talk to you about the airbenders."

"What about 'em?" replied Aang with feigned nonchalance.

"Well, I just want you to be prepared for what you might see." she reasoned mildly, looking away, "The Fire Nation is ruthless. They killed my mother and they could have done the same to your people."

"Just because no one has seen an airbender doesn't mean the Fire Nation killed them all." stated Aang stubbornly, "They probably escaped."

Katara was about to open her mouth again when Korra decided to intervene; she placed a hand on Katara's shoulder and gave her a look that clearly meant "_leave it._"

Katara sighed and stared at Aang sadly as he shook the reigns and said "_yipyip_!" once more.

–

As the bison swept around the sheer rocky side of a mountain, the tall spiralling blue towers of the Southern Air Temple came into view. Aang turned around smugly as everyone gasped in wonder.

"Aang, it's amazing!" exclaimed Katara

When they landed on one of the many ledges on the mountainside, Aang stared at the magnificent temple with nostalgia and patted Appa's head. "We're home, buddy. We're home." he said softly.

"You guys ready for a tour!?" gushed Aang excitedly as he led the way up a narrow mountain pass. "C'mon, let's go!"

Tarrlok followed from near the rear of the group, memorizing as much as he could about the splendid temple nestles in soft white snow and clouds. It was designed in a very simplistic, but elegant manner, with tall spires and small cubby-like rooms that seemed to be carved into the sheer mountain peak itself. The foot trails leading up to it were narrow and overgrown with what little vegetation that could survive in the cold, high altitudes. Once he reached the temple's courtyard, Tarrlok turned around and observed the stunning, pristine view. Bright sunlight reflected off of the mountain peaks poking out of a sea of wooly clouds.

"...so that's where my friends and I would play airball!" said Aand enthusiastically, breaking Tarrlok from his thoughts.

"And...over there would be where the bison would sleep..." he sighed, trailing off, "and..."

"What's wrong?" asked Katara with concern

"This place used to be full of monks and lemurs and bison." he replied, looking around sadly, "Now there's just a bunch of weeds."

Tarrlok met Katara's worry filled eyes.

"I can't believe how much things have changed." added Aang dejectedly.

Katara flashed her eyes at him and mouthed, "_do something!_"

Tarrlok gave her a slight grimace before conceding, "So, uh, this airball game?" he asked, changing the subject, "How do you play?"

Aang, who immediately cheered up, turned around and gave him a wicked grin.

–

As Tarrlok sailed through the rotating backboard of the airball field, driven through by a the ball rocketing into his stomach once again, he wondered why he was even trying to protect the naive little airbender. Aang would have to find out the truth about his people someday, and it would be better to just get it over with! Tarrlok looked up blearily from the snowdrift that he rocketed into. To his irritation, everyone was trying to hold back their amusement.

"Hahaha!" beamed Aang, "Aang seven, Tarrlok Zer-O." he called, spinning in celebration.

"_Uugggh_." groaned Tarrlok, covering his face with gloved hands. "Making him feel better is putting me in a world of pain." he carped, curling up in fetal position in the snow with his back turned to the crowd.

When he uncovered his face, and stood up, Tarrlok spotted a blackened helmet nestled among the snowdrift.

"Hey." he called softly, "Look at this."

"Fire nation."

"We should tell him." said Bolin.

"Yeah." replied Korra turning around slowly, "Aang, there's something you need to see!"

"Okay!" Aang called back brightly.

Katara seemed alarmed though, "_what are you doing_?" she hissed.

Korra looked at Katara, then Aang who rapidly approaching on an air scooter. Then she seemed a little hesitant to let the kid know.

Suddenly, Korra turned around and grabbed Tarrlok by the arm. "Whoa! What are you doing now!?" he yelped as she slammed him backwards into the cliff face, knocking a large snowdrift from the bushes above his head. It landed on him with a _whump_, knocking all the air out of him and reminding him once more why waterbending was the most useful thing ever.

"Why do you people enjoy abusing me so much?" he groused as he poked his head out on the snow, blinking away the icy flakes.

Then Aang arrived and brightly asked, "What is it?"

"Oh, uh..." said Korra hastily, "I just wanted to show you this cool hand-to-hand combat move."

"Nice one." replied Aang, "But enough practicing. We have a whole temple to see!" he said as he zoomed away on his air scooter once again.

Noatak rolled his eyes as he dragged a shivering Tarrlok out of the snowdrift. Then he spun around to Korra and snapped, "You can stop beating up my wimpy brother. That's my job."

Korra backed away in alarm and said, "Sorry, I just wanted to help Katara, and that's the first thing that came to mind! I needed a quick plan!"

"Well don't come up with any more of your 'quick plans,'" he said derisively before turning to Katara and sighing, "I hope you realize that you can't protect him forever."

"Yes, I can."

"Come on," added Tarrlok, "You can't pretend that there weren't any firebenders here for all of eternity."

"Yes, I can," she protested obstinately, "For Aang's sake I can. He'll be devastated if he finds out the firebenders destroyed his home!"

The group seemed to sigh collectively at this. Suddenly Aang called from a distance up ahead, "Hey guys! There's someone I want you to meet!"

"Whose that?" asked Bolin as the group walked across a stone bridge to a statue.

"Monk Gyatso, the greatest airbender in the world." replied Aang wistfully while bowing to the of an old, serene monk with a droopy, white mustache. "He taught me everything I know."

For a moment, Aang seemed lost in his own little world before Katara placed a hand and his shoulders. "You must miss him." she said.

"Yeah." he replied soberly before turning and walking towards to temple.

"Hey, where're you going?" asked Korra.

"The Air Temple Sanctuary." he replied to the general bemusement, "There's someone I'm ready to meet."

–

After walking up several flights of stairs, Korra and the rest of the group reached a large door full of intricate tubing. In the center, there where three spiraling shells arranged in a triangle. Aang looked at it and rubbed his hands in anticipation

"Kid, there's no way someone could have survived in there for a hundred years." Said Noatak.

"It's not impossible." Aang insisted, "I survived in the iceberg for that long."

"Good point."

"Maybe whoever's in there can help me figure out this Avatar thing!"

"Let's see!" exclaimed Bolin, charging towards the door. He slammed into it but bounced right back onto the ground. "Ow!" he grumbled before turning back to Aang, "I don't suppose you have a key?"

"The key, Bolin, is airbending." he explained while getting into a stance in from of the door. He shut his eyes and took a deep breath, raising his arms into a "T" shape. Then, in a surge of energy, he snapped his arms forwards and released two powerful blasts of wind into the horns where air could enter the piping. The whole contraption vibrated and the spiral shaped shells shuddered and flipped over, releasing the air from a tube jutting from the middle. Then, the door cracked open and mist crept out from the gap between the doors.

The whole group stood on their toes in anticipation as the doors separated and revealed the chamber inside...

"_Statues_." scoffed Noatak, "And this is supposed to help you how?" he queried, stalking around the room.

"I don't know, but they seem so familiar! Look this one's and airbender!"

"And this one's a waterbender." said Katara.

"They're lined up in the avatar cycle." said Korra, "Air, water, earth, fire. These are your past lives."

"You actually believe in that stuff?" asked Noatak.

"It it true you know," said Mako with a glance at Aang. "When the Avatar dies, it is reborn into the next nation."

"Whoa..." trailed off Aang, staring into the eyes of the last Avatar; he seemed mesmerized by it.

"Aang?" called Tarrlok worridly, "Aang, snap out of it!"

"_Huh_?"

"Who was that?" asked Katara.

"Roku"

"The avatar before you." whispered Bolin.

"How did you know his name?" asked Katara

"I'm not sure," replied Aang brightly, "I just, know it somehow."

"You just couldn't get any weirder." muttered Noatak.

Suddenly, a shadow passed over the doorway

"It could be a firebender!" said Tarrlok, "Nobody make a sound!"

"It's not a firebender." sniped Korra, "Look at the pointy ear shadows!"

"LEMUR!" shouted Aang joyfully as he took off down the hallway, his voice growing gradually fainter. "_You're going to be my new pet_!"

"Oh crap, oh no!" blurted Korra, "Oh, I remember Sokka telling me this story now! This is when Aang discovered his mentor died and went into the Avatar state!"

"Oh...should we go after him?" asked Tarrlok dubiously.

"_Yes_! Come on!"

Korra sprinted down the mountainside, to the little grotto where she remembered Tenzin showing her Gyasto's shrine.

_I hope it's not too late!_ she thought as she burst into the chamber, and was immediately greeted by the sight of Aang collapsed on his knees, his tiny body shaking from sobs. In front was Gyatso's skeleton, surrounded by dozens of firebender uniforms.]

_ Aaah! too late!_

"Oh man..." she faultered, "Aang, _Aang_ it's going to be alright." she said shaking his shoulder as the others rushed in behind her, "Come on, let's get out of here...oh shit." she said, backing away as his tattoos began to glow.

_I really wish I still had the Avatar spirit instead of him right now!_

"Korra, what happened?" asked Mako

"He saw Gyatso's skelet-_Aahh_!" she replied before getting knocked back by the rapidly expanding ball of air from the enraged Avatar.

_ If I ever get bending back, I'm never going to take it for granted, EVER again._

"Oh no!" cried Katara, "He must have triggered the Avatar spirit!"

Meanwhile, Aang was becoming more and more destructive; the entire building shook as the fierce winds ripped through the debris lying all around. The fragile little kid she found weeping on the floor now looked completely possesed.

_Did I ever look that terrifying?_

"Bolin!" she shrieked as their entire group tried to cling onto the ground for dear life, "_Earth_! Back us up!"

"Oh, right! I'm on it! Saving us, right!" called Bolin as he bent shallow trenches for them to shelter behind.

"I'm gonna try to calm him down!" yelled Katara as she bravely trudged against the wind to reach Aang.

"Well hurry before he blows us off the mountain!" bellowed Tarrlok in reply.

"Aang," cried Katara, "I know you're upset...and I know how hard it is to lose the people you love. I went through the same thing when I lost my mom." here she faultered, "Monk Gyatso and the other airbenders may be gone, but you still have a family. All of us, we're your family now!"

Her words seemed to sooth Aang a little, and the savage winds begin to die down. The rest of the group got up and surrounded Aang.

"We aren't going to let anything happen to you." declared Tarrlok.

"We promise." added Korra

As Aang descended a little, Katara takes one of his hands, and the glowing fades away, leaving behind a very drained twelve ear old boy. He buried his tear streaked face deeper into Katara's arms and slumped in exhastion.

"'M sorry."

"It's okay." soothed Katara, "It wasn't your fault.

"But you were right." he mumbled, "And if firebenders found this temple that means they found the other ones, too. I really am the last airbender."

"It'll be okay," said, Korra, approaching them for a hug.

"We're all here for you." said Bolin, and soon, all of them shared a group hug, comforting not just Aang's loss, but each other's as well. The loss of friends, bending, and the loss of family, life and love.

It was a long time before anyone moved.

–

The following morning, Aang stared into the eyes of Roku inside the sanctuary and wondered what guidance he would receive. He hoped it wouldn't be some crazy thing where he had to single-handedly kill the Fire Lord or something. He was angry about the loss of his nation, but he didn't have the ability to just kill something! *_Sigh*_, he would probably just have to start learning the elements now, since he was over a hundred years late. A hundred years! And the Fire nation already wont he war!? If they had basically seized everything already, how was he going to overthrow them? Aang was internally pleading Roku's statue for answers, stewing in anxiety when he heard Katara enter the sanctuary.

"Hey," she said, "Everything's packed. You ready to go?"

"Yeah...how is Roku supposed to help me?"

"You'll probably find out soon. Come on, let's head out."

And with that, Aang sealed the doors with a resounding _slam_! and the two of them walked down to the bison.

"_Urrrgh_!" griped Bolin as he finished packing the Bison, "I'm starving! Anyone else starving?"

"Yes, but these measly supplies have to last all of us another two days." replied Tarrlok.

"We should've just caught the lemur..."

"Hey guys." greeted Aang and Katara suddenly, "Ready to go?"

"Yeah-_whoa_!" answered Aang, ducking as a the lemur flew in overhead. It landed on the saddle and emptied a load of fruits into the middle of the group circle.

"Oh man...you are awesome lemur!" sang out Bolin as he stuffed an entire peach in his mouth.

"That is disgusting." commented Eska

"Can't talk, must eat."

"Haha, seems like you made a new friend!" beamed Aang.

_Chhirrrrp_! Peeped the lemur as it scrambled onto Aang's bald, shiny head. Smiling once again, Aang turned and looked back at the air temple with a sense of lingering sadness.

"You, me, and Appa." murmured Aang, "We're all that's left of this place. We have to stick together." Then, he turned around to face the rest of the group again, "Guys...say hello to the newest member of our family." he said, with the lemur perched on his shoulder.

"What are you going to name him?" inquired Tarrlok kindly, right as the lemur snatched a fruit out of his hand.

"Haha," giggled Aang, "I'll name him...Momo!"

Tarrlok looked from his empty hand to Momo, who was rapidly consuming the fruit on Aang's shoulder.

"_Holy spirits_," he griped theatrically to everyone's amusement, "Even the lemur likes to abuse me."

The whole group chortled as they rode Appa into the sunrise.

–

a/n: Te gusta? No Te gusta? tell me what you like! Who should Katara be paired with? were the characters ooc? I'm open to any kind of question or criticism that appears in the review box!

also, Yakone, Noatak and Tarrlok should kind of be treated like OCs because they didn't really experience the same life as in cannon.


	19. The Dragonsitter

a/n: hey y'all, this chapter is dedicated to vicious fire-breathing animals. Also, I strongly recommend that you look at a link to a picture (that I drew because I have no life) on my profile 'cuz it will make it easier to visualize the characters.

–

After a week and a half on the ocean, Zuko was cranky, tired, hungry, and restless. And the trip had gone smoothly, which set off instant alarm bells in his head because things never go smoothly around him. In fact, now that the first part of his trip had gone so well, he would probably end up losing his other eye or a limb or something on the next part of his journey. But hopefully, Haru would be alright; Zuko would feel pretty guilty if his recklesness got the other man killed.

_Speaking of which..._

"Hey fireboy."

"_What_."

"How much longer?"

"Maybe a couple minutes."

"What was the giant cloud of fog we passed by earlier?"

"Oh, just a prison."

"You sailed right past a PRISON." deadpanned Haru, "Right after you just got captured and almost killed just over a week ago? There's something wrong with you!"

"What, other than the fact that I'm Fire Nation?" he joked in reply.

"Don't joke about this stuff, you moron."

"They don't keep watch on the outside of this prison."

"How do you know tha...this is a Fire Nation prison, isn't it."

"Technically, every prison in the world belongs to the Fire Nation now."

"Don't remind me." grumbled Haru. "So, what about this prison makes it so great that it doesn't even need to be guarded?"

"It's on a tiny island on a lake in the middle of a volcano."

"Oh."

"A lake in the middle of a volcano that is always boiling."

"And what is it called?"

"The Boiling Rock."

"Wow, that's sooo creative."

"It's also ridiculously secure; there's never been a breakout in it's entire existence."

"Okay, let's make sure we don't sail past the SUPER SECURE AND DANGEROUS PRISON on our way back." sighed Haru with exasperation.

"Yeah, whatever. Hey, I see it!"

"Where?"

"That strip of land, look!" gestrured Zuko.

"I don't see anything..."

"Oh yeah, I forgot you earth people don't sail."

"Well, you wouldn't think the _Fire_ Nation sails around in the _water_ either!"

"We are an island. Surrounded by _water._ Just pointing that out."

"Okay, whatever. Hey I see it now!"

"What did I-"

"Shut up."

–

As Zuko and Haru docked on the shores of a large island, Haru asked, "So remind me, why are we coming here again?"

"You waited until now to ask?"

"Yes! I was just really excited to get out of that dinky cell and I didn't really think about anything else, okay?"

Zuko raised an eyebrow at Haru.

_And uncle thought that I didn't think things through. _

"We're going to the ruins of the Sun Warrior civilization." he explained.

"Uh, why?"

"Because they were the first firebenders."

"What!" exclaimed Haru indignantly, "I thought we were going to do something useful."

"How is learning about the roots of an element useless?" argued Zuko.

All the way up the mountainside, the two young men bickered. Finally, just as they were coming up a set of stone steps, Haru stated, "We aren't going to learn anything by looking at the dilapidated shacks of a dead civilization..._whoa_."

Zuko too gaped at the sight before him, hundreds of stone temple-like houses built from huge rocks that were not held together by any morter. Each one was straight, trapeziodal, and had intricate designs carved into the window and door frames.

"Wow," he breathed walking forwards and carefully examining the primordial dwellings. "Even though these buildings are ancient, there's something eerily familiar about them." he mused, "I can tell the Fire Sages' temples are somehow descended from these."

"Ok, you learned something about architecture." said Haru patronizingly, "Maybe now you will learn the secret of making fire not burn people to death from these wonderfully talkative buildings." he taunted as he tripped over something, "Huh?"

Suddenly, the stone road where he was standing slid open to reveal a pit of deadly spikes, "Aaahhhh!" yelped Haru in alarm as he hastily swooped his arms inwards to cave in the walls of the buildings on either side of the pit. Then he landed gingerly, taking care to step on the rocks that insulated his feet from the spikes.

When got to the other side, he whipped around shakily and said, "Zuko! I think these buildings are trying to kill me!"

Zuko, who was not paying any attention, kneeled down and examined the tripwire. "I can't believe it." he exclaimed, "This booby trap must be centuries old, and it still works!"

"Yah know," said Haru sharply, "There's probably more around. And that means we probably shouldn't be here!"

"Oh grow some balls." snapped Zuko as he ran lightly over the rocks that Haru had collapsed over the spike pit, "Besides, people don't make traps unless they've got something worth protecting."

–

Half an hour later, Zuko and Haru arrived at the base of a very impressive looking pyramid, with intricate carving all along the base of the steps. "Hey look at these," said Haru, "It looks like these 'sun warrior' people are being burned up by the dragons."

Zuko glanced over and grunted noncommittally.

"I thought you said the sun warriors were, like, students or friends of the dragons or something."

"Well, they had a funny way of showing it."

"Why the sudden long face?"

"Nothing." snapped Zuko

"Okay, whatever." backtracked Haru, "What happened to the dragons anyways? Nobody ever hears about them anymore..."

"My great-grandfather Sozin happened." muttered Zuko, "He started the tradition of hunting dragons for glory. They were the ultimate firebenders. And if you could conquer one, your firebending talents would become legendary, and you'd earn the honorary title 'Dragon.'" he explained, glancing over at Haru before continuing, "The last great dragon was conquered long before I was born...by my _Uncle_."

"What?" asked Haru in confusion, "I thought your uncle was...I dunno...good. I mean, I heard rumors about how he and you disappeared for a while and started helping Earth Kingdom refugees."

"He had a complicated past. Family tradition, I guess." Zuko sighed as he started up the steps of the pyramid, "Let's just move on."

At the top, there was a round doorway with a blood red gem on top, and carvings in a circle around it. Haru walked up to the door and tried to bend it open to no avail. "That's strange." he said.

"Wait." said Zuko, turning around and spotting a pole with a familiar looking red gem at the very top, "It's a celestial calendar. Just like the Fire Sages have in their temples. I bet that Sun Stone opens the door, but only when sunlight hits it at just the right angle, on the solstice."

"Aw, we aren't waiting around that long."

"No we aren't, but we might be able to speed time up." replied Zuko while unsheathing one of his swords, "Let's see if we can outsmart the Sun Stone." Then, he tilted the sword and shakily guided the red light from the jewel on the pole to the jewel on the top of the door. After a few moments, the doorway was still completely still.

"Nothings happening." said Haru.

Zuko gave him a scowl before turning back to the door, "Come on..." he muttered.

Suddenly, the doors parted with a rumble, revealing the dark chamber inside.

"Wow. That worked." stated a stunned Haru, "You know," he said, elbowing Zuko, "You're actually pretty smart."

Zuko simply gave him a wry smile, _you've never met Azula_, he thought, before stepping into the room after Haru.

"Aah!" yelled the other man, flinching at the angry faces that greeted him.

"Relax, they're just statues."

"I know!" retorted Haru irritably. Then, he glance down at the fine print at the base of the statue and said, "Hey, according to the inscription, this is called 'The Dancing Dragon.'"

"Hmm." answered Zuko, lifting his arms up like the position the first statue took. To his surprise, his foot sank into a small dip in the ground. "Hey Haru!" he called, "Can you try to do these forms?"

"What, why?"

"Just do it." said Zuko, "It's not too different from earthbending. Just follow the statues."

Haru, huffed and got into stance on the opposite side of Zuko. As he went through the forms, he realized his foot was going into stone buttons on the ground.

"Don't you see? These aren't dance moves. These statues are giving us a lesson." he said as they finished the sequence, "I think this is some kind of Sun Warrior firebending form."

At the last form, their fists met and the ground in the center opened up with a golden egg sitting on a pedestal rising from the center.

"Whoo. We did it." cheered Haru while stepping forward to investigate the egg, "Uh, what exactly is that?"

"It's some kind of mystical gem stone." replied Zuko curiously, reaching to pick it up.

"Well don't touch it!"

"Why not?" asked Zuko, stopping in his tracks.

"Remember what happened out there with those spikes?" answered Haru, peeking over Zuko's shoulders, "I'm just very suspicious of giant, glowing gems sitting on pedestals."

Zuko looked over at Haru's worried face, and decided to grab the egg despite Haru's warning.

"Zuko!" muttered Haru, "Put it back!"

"It feels almost alive," said Zuko in wonder, while turning to place the gem back.

Suddenly, A fountain of slimy dark green goo gushed out of the pedestal and blasted Zuko face-first onto a metal grate directly above.

"Aaugh! I can't get free! It's like some kind of glue!" he cried, face flat against the bars.

"Fuck! It's another trap!" yelled Haru as he jumped across the heads of the statues, trying to avoid the rapidly rising goo. Finally, it rose so high that Haru had no choice but to grab onto the bars on either side of Zuko's shoulders. Then, he tried to earthbend but found that his hands and feet were glued to the bars above.

"I can't move!" yelled Haru, starting to panic, "Do something Zuko!"

"Me!?" he yelled back, "I can't move either!"

Meanwhile, the goo rose higher and higher, climbing up their sides and through their robes. It rose so high that it started to engulf the side of their faces and crush them against the bars above. Zuko coughed from feeling the Haru's front pressing into his back and forcing all the air out of his lungs. Then, suddenly, the pressure disappeared.

"Ow." muttered Haru, "It stopped."

"Hey, at least we have air," said Zuko, feeling distinctly cramped from being sandwiched between his earthbending acquaintance and the hard metal bars above, "Maybe if we stay calm, we can figure a way out of this."

Haru sighed in exasperation and tried to wriggle, causing Zuko to stiffen above him. Then Haru froze before sighing again, feeling sticky, sweaty, and very pissed off at the reckless Fire Nation prince.

–

As the sun set, Zuko and Haru were still stuck to each other between the glue and the grating, both extremely bored and extremely irritated.

"You just HAD to pick up the spirit fucking egg, didn't you."

"Well at least I made something happen!" Zuko retorted, "If it were up to you, we'd never have made it pass the spike pit!"

Haru let out a peeved growl before opening his mouth wide and bellowing, "**HELLLLLLLLP!**"

"Who are you yelling to?" snapped Zuko, "Nobody's lived here for centuries!"

Suddenly, as if the universe existed just to prove him wrong, a straw sandal stepped into view right after the words left his mouth.

"**_WHO IS DOWN THERE?_**" demanded an imperious voice.

–

Later, Zuko and Haru, looking very chagrined, sat in an antechamber as two aardvark sloths licked the disgusting, sticky glue off their faces.

"For trying to take our Sun Stone," declared the Chief, "You must be severely punished!"

"We didn't come here to take your Sun Stone." stated Zuko defensively, "We came here to find the ancient origin of all firebending!"

"Yeah right." retorted a scrawny warrior with a long, greased ponytail, "They are obviously thieves, here to steal Sun Warrior treasures."

"No! We don't want that stone! We're just trying to get this guy prepared to save the world!" said Haru, punching an irritated Zuko on the arm, "Please, just hear us out."

The Chief narrowed his eyes, examining them for a moment, then nodded at them to continue.

"My name is Zuko, Crown Prince of the Fire Nation. Or at least, I used to be." he started, "I know my people have distorted the ways of firebending, to be fueled by anger and rage. But now I want to learn the true way!" explained Zuko candidly, "The original way. When we came here, I never imagined the Sun Warrior civilization was secretly alive. I am truly humbled to be in your presence." he finished, bowing to the semicircle of warriors, "Please, teach me."

"Hmm." murmured the Chief, who seemed to believe Zuko's words, "If you wish to learn the ways of the Sun, you must learn them from the masters Ran and Shao. When you present yourselves to them, they will examine you. They'll read your hearts, your souls, _and your ancestry_." he warned with a dark scowl at Zuko. "If they deem you worthy, they'll teach you. If they don't..._you'll be destroyed on the spot._"

–

In the evening, Zuko and Haru had been given one of the many stone houses, as well as supper. As they sat around the fire pit, Haru coughed and choked, trying to consume the spicy, sour, bitter traditional Sun Warrior meal.

"_Hhhakk, koff koff, **bleurgh**._" he spluttered, glancing over to where Zuko calmly swallowed his food while gazing pensievely into the fire, "How are you eating this stuff?"

"It tastes pretty good, actually. Needs a bit more salt and green peppers-"

"_More peppers!?_"

"Hmmm." replied Zuko without paying attention to Haru, thinking about whether he should follow through with his plans to meet the firebending masters. They could end up destroying him! He would be with uncle in the Spirit World then, sure, but now he didn't want to die so much anymore.

_It must be because of Haru and Zei; of course the universe presents a convenient way to die right after I made some actual friends_ thought Zuko mutinously. "Screw the universe." he muttered under his breath.

"Are you worried about tomorrow?" asked Haru.

_No, I'm obviously feeling peachy about the fact that I will probably die._

"A little worried."

"You know," continued Haru, "You're not all that bad. For an ash maker."

"Er...thanks?"

"No problem. If it counts for anything, I don't think they'll destroy you."

"Hmm."

"Let's go to sleep now, yes?" suggested Haru. "Whatever it is you're doing tomorrow, you'll probably need your energy."

"Yup. Sound good." he replied absently as he laid back among the cushions, his mind creating feverish dreams about tomorrow's 'test'.

–

The following morning, the two men made their wat down to part of the city that was farthest northwest in order to meet the Sun chief and his warriors in one of the many 'sacred chambers.' When they entered, they were greeted by the warriors, standing in a semicircle (as usual) with their Chief awaiting them in front of a massive, blazing fireplace.

"If you are going to see the masters, you must bring them a piece of the eternal flame." he boomed, bending out a shred of fire, "This fire is the very first one. It was given to Man by the dragons. We have kept it going for thousands of years."

"I don't believe it." breathed Zuko, completely awestruck.

"You will take a piece of it to the masters, to show your commitment to the sacred art of firebending. This ritual illustrates the essence of Sun Warrior philosophy." continued the Chief, "You must maintain a constant heat. The flame will go out if you make it too small. Make it too big, and you might lose control." he said with a pointed look at Zuko, who cooly accepted the flame "You will take your flames up there. The cave of the masters is beneath that rock." said the chief, pointing to twin mountain peaks at the top of a hill. "We will meet you there."

A long trek later, Zuko arrived in a circular courtyard right underneath a long, steep staircase. It led up to a precarious stone platform bridging between the gap of two mountains. He arrived and looked at the Chief, who looked down on him imperiously.

"Facing the judgment of the firebending masters will be very dangerous for you. Your ancestors are directly responsible for the dragons' disappearances." he informed Zuko, who glanced away in shame, "The masters might not be so happy to see you.

"I know I wouldn't be." added the smug, sassy, greasy ponytailed warrior with a hand on his hip.

Zuko shot him a dirty look before exhaling nervously and turning around to face the stairs. At the base, he was greeted by Haru, who nervously said, "You could turn back now. You've already learned more about fire than you hoped."

"No, I'm seeing this through to the end." replied Zuko stubbornly, "I'm gonna meet these masters and find out what's so great about them."

"What if they judge you and kill you?"

"Well, we're bother extremely proficient fighters." he said, partially unsheathing his swords with a smirk, "I think we can take these guys in a fight, whoever they are. Besides, if they do attack, just collapse the bridge and we can make a quick escape."

Haru nodded anxiously and gave him a double thumbs up. "Welp, good luck!"

Zuko swept up to the top of the platform and turned his head around once before confidently calling, "Bring 'em out!"

"Chanters!" called the chief as the circle of warriors passed around a flame. They started drumming and chanting a tribal beat as the chief took out a conic tube and shouts, "He who wishes to meet the masters Ran and Shao will now present his fire!"

Zuko proceeded to bow to one of the cave entrances, holding his flame out in front of him.

"Sound the call!" he heard the Sun Chief order.

Then, he heard a loud, deep sound fanfare that caused his eardrums to throb and a flock of birds to fly away squawking into the distance. Suddenly, the ground began to shudder as the slabs of rocks concealing the caves on either side of him rumbled open. Zuko looked up with apprehension and his eyes met beady, golden pinpricks near the back of the cave, growing nearer and nearer until...

_RAAAAAW!_ screeched a red creature as it slithered out of the cave. No... it couldn't be...a _DRAGON!?_ thought Zuko as he turned and staggered backwards from the sheer force of the wind. Then, he saw a second dragon, this one blue, whip out of the other cave entrance and join into the red dragon's avian dance. For a while, Zuko looked up in confusion as the dragons continued to circle each other in a very familiar pattern..._The Dragon Dance!_ he realized.

He got into the first stance near the top of the staircase, going through the sequence as the dragons echoed his movements with harmonious accordance; twirling, contracting, and spiraling with massive gusts of wind until the end, when the air stilled as the dragons faced him from either side, snarling and looking deep into his eyes.

Zuko faintly heard the words _"judgement time"_, but he was more focused on the dragons' vicious snarling jaws and soulful eyes, penetrating deep into his own. He stood hyperventilating as his heart beat out a frantic tattoo and he felt a typhoon of memories flashing before his eyes and emotions ripping through his heart-then suddenly...

The masters opened their jaws simultaneously and Zuko jumped back, crying out in terror as he saw the white hot balls of fire forming deep in their throats. The masters released their molten flames and Zuko shielded his eyes

_ Holy fucking spirits, this the end! Ohshitohshitohshitoooh..._

Then he realized he wasn't being burned, and opened his eyes. To his amazement, the masters were forming a stunning vortex; a torrent of multicolored flames and hot wind and energy rushing all around him, just like the Qi within his own body. It enriched him, empowered him, and soothed his soul.

It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

With the rich, vibrantly colored flames reflecting off his irises, Zuko took a deep breath and murmured, "I understand."

Then all of a sudden, the flames stopped and the dragons circled each other once more before pausing on opposite side with him in the middle once again. They stared right though a puzzled Zuko and into each other's eyes for a moment before swooping forwards towards him once again.

"Aaah!" he shrieked as the red dragon snapped him up by the scruff of his robe and hurled him onto the blue dragon's back. He landed on the dragon's thick, scaly neck with a _thud_ and clung on for dear life as the masters whipped down the mountainside. Looking back down, he saw the sun warriors and Haru rushing down the mountain as well, and he thought he heard a warrior exclaim _"well this certainly isn't part of the usual ritual!"_

Zuko then looked frontwards again, blinking back moisture in his eyes from how fast the wind was hitting his face. A few mere seconds later, and they were back on the edge of the city; another second and they arrived at the pyramid where he and Haru had gotten stuck at on their first day. Where the golden egg was!

The masters arrived at the temple, and circles around it in a dizzying, breakneck circle before collectively crashing inwards and completely shattering the stone chamber on top. Zuko ducked as the debris scattered in all directions, wincing as a chunk of one of the statues arms whizzed past him, clipping his foot. With the top completely cleared, the pedestal holding the Sun Stone slowly rose up once again.

This time, the masters flew onto opposite sides of the golden jewel, clawed feet clinging onto the sides of the tiered pyramid. Zuko watched in amazement as together, the two dragons exhaled two ribbons of pure white flame, which spun around the sun stone until the treasure was entirely encased in a net of woven flames. Then the gold casing became molten and started to hiss and drip onto the floor, and _crk..crick...crik..._there were fractures running all around the outside of the stone now! The cracks grew wider and wider, and harsh yellowish-white light began to flood out from beneath the cracks and Zuko could see luminescent shape scrambling around inside!

Zuko couldn't take his eyes off of this captivating sight; it all made sense now! The heavy protection, the dwelling of the masters, and the feeling of _aliveness_ that the stone exuded: It was and egg! And not any egg, but the last dragon egg in existence, that he was allowed the honor of watching hatch.

Finally, as the last traces of the molten gold casing dripped onto the floor and the masters let go of their white flames, a tiny baby dragon, no larger than an undersized dragonfly, crawled out from underneath the mess of its collapsed shell. It promptly sneezed and produced a flame about ten times its own size.

Then it looked up and met eye to eye with Zuko.

Not Ran...not Shao, but _Zuko_.

_Oh spirits! Please don't imprint on me!_ thought Zuko desperately as he looked away. _I am in no position to raise a dragon!_

In the process, he noticed the Sun Warriors and Haru standing at the base of the pyramid, each with identical, dumbstruck faces. It was pretty funny, actually, to see the Chief gaping at him like a fool. If only the situation wasn't so dire.

Then suddenly, the Chief shook himself off and bowed. Like a _LOW_ bow. With his forehead touching the ground. Then the rest of the circle of warriors bowed as well, just as the blue dragon dumped Zuko unceremoniously onto the platform next to the hatched baby dragon. Then, before flying back into their mountain cave homes, Zuko could have sworn the dragons dipped their head to him as well.

–

Zuko could not comprehend what had happened. Had he really just seen dragons? Had he really just watched a dragon HATCH? And was that hatched dragon really snuggling into his shoulder...Or was it all a dream? It must be a dream! How could this happen in real life?

When Haru and the sun warriors finally reached the top of the staircase, they found Zuko curled up in fetal position, clutching his head with the undersized, baby dragon perched on top of his shoulder.

"Zuko?" called Haru with the slightest hint of concern, "Are you hurt?"

Zuko sat up, looking back with slightly maniacal eyes and said "Punch me Haru!"

"What!?"

"Just do it!" he demanded, "Really hard!"

Haru complied, slamming his fist into Zuko's arm with enough force to leave a bruise for a week.

"_Ow_." muttered Zuko, "_Why did that hurt_?"

"Of course it hurt you idiot! What did you think would happen?"

"I dunno, I thought it was a dream." he replied, looking absently at the Sun Chief. "I suppose this isn't a part of the normal ceremony?"

"No." replied the Chief in amazement, "The masters have chosen you for a very important task. Your soul must have been very pure in order to weather all the grievances that your family and nation have dealt upon the balance of our world."

"Wait...I'm supposed to raise a baby dragon!?"

"Yes."

"I'm a fugitive that the entire fire Nation is trying to hunt down right now! I can't raise a valuable, endangered creature!"

The chief simply shrugged. "I know not what the Masters' intentions are." he said, "Only that they have chosen you, and it is your duty to follow through with their request."

"But...but, the dragon will die!" he spluttered, "I'll be-"

_VRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrr..._

"Speaking of the dark spirits..." said Haru, "That sounds suspiciously like an engine!" he hastily scrambled to the edge of the platform and looked over; Zuko followed suite and to his horror, he saw a Fire Navy ship in the distance, and a group of men riding over on eel hounds!

_I knew the fortune was too good to last_ thought Zuko as he grabbed the baby dragon in his palms and turned to run away. Then suddenly, He saw Haru tumble to the ground, half of his face slack, the other half grimaced in pain. "Get out of here!" he shouted at Zuko, "You need to save the dragon!"

"No, I_-ow!_" he gasped as he felt a sharp prick on the side of his neck, and a familiar numbing sensation spreading through his veins. It must've been shirshu poison!

_They better not have gotten it from June, or I swear that creepy bint is going to pay..._

But whatever happened, he couldn't let them discover the dragon! And he would be completely paralyzed soon, and stay that way for a solid hour or so. So thinking quickly, Zuko shoved the baby dragon into his mouth, hoping that a subtle breath of fire would be enough to keep it satisfied for a while. His eyes, now the only part that would move freely, darted around in panic as he saw Haru being taken into a metal box to impede his bending. Then, he felt a rough pair of hand tying together his arms and legs as well.

"Would ya look at that," said one of the voices smugly, "Looks like we caught the traitor prince!"

"Yeah! do you think we'll get a promotion if we bring him to the-"

_Don't say it...please don't say it..._

"-Boiling Rock?"

_...fuck._

"Yeah! Let's go." replied the first voice as he haphazardly tossed Zuko into the windowless metal cell alongside Haru. When the door banged shut, Zuko opened his mouth and let the squirming baby dragon out. Then, he turned his body temperature up as high as it would go, and immediately started to feel the venom evaporate from his body.

"Why are you making it so hot in here?" grumbled Haru from his awkward position, face flat on the floor.

"I'm trying to burn out the poison." replied Zuko. "In fact, I can move a little more now." he said, wiggling his fingers to exemplify.

"Well, can you remove it from me?"

"No. Sorry."

"_Uugh_." groaned Haru. "Did you hear that? they're taking us to the Boiling Rock, that high security prison that you said _nobody has ever escaped from?_"

"Yeah, yeah. I know. I'm sorry for passing by there."

"No your not. I just hope they didn't see the Dragons and the Sun Warriors."

"They didn't. Or they would be talking about them right now."

"Are you okay?"

"What? oh I'm fine." replied Zuko, "Just a little drained."

"Me too."

"You know what, we'll be there in a few hours, and when that happens, don't try to escape."

"Why?"

"They often bring prisoners of war to the Boiling Rock. Between the two of us, we might even be able to rally people and plan an escape for the first time. Also, they have a nasty habit of throwing non compliant prisoners of war in the boiling water."

"Sound absolutely peachy. And remind me again, why would we try to escape?"

"Let's just worry about that when the time comes." said Zuko wearily while snatching his squealing baby dragon out of the air, "We won't be there for another day and a half."

And with that, he leaned back and fell asleep.

–

a/n: As you can see, Zuko's destined for great things.

also, I have a nerdy joke: Heisenberg was once pulled over for speeding. When the policeman asked "Do you have any idea how fast you were going?", Heisenberg said: "No, but I knew where I was!"

Also, GO TO MY PROFILE AND LOOK AT THE PICTURE OF THE CAST FOR THIS STORY AND **REVIEW!**


	20. Building Burning Bridges

a/n: originally, the trip to meet Avatar Roku was supposed to be one chapter, but it got too long. So now I present to you...a lot more angst for Korra! Korra kind of turns into Mako.

oh yis, and this is a about ten days after the visit to the Southern Air Temple.

and nuffin' belongs to moi.

–

A week ago, Appa had landed on Whale Tail Island to meet with the Water Tribe fleet and prepare for their journey to Crescent Island, an island at the very tip of the Fire Nation archipelago. As Aang helped Korra carry some of tents up to the ship, he asked, "Are you sure you don't remember what Roku wanted to tell me at the island?"

"No, I'm sorry." she sighed, feeling very cross with herself for forgetting, "I might've been able to remember if I could get a healer, but there's no waterbending anymore."

"Aw, monkeyfeathers." he said, "Do you think you could teach me to meditate into the spirit world?"

"Errm, I'm not really sure how..."

"But you said you already mastered all the elements!"

"Well, I didn't really master spirituality or air." she replied sadly, "I really only know the basics of it."

"But, one of the most basic things of airbending is meditation!"

"_I know, okay!_" she bit back, "I'm just not as good as you, mister spiritual!"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry." replied Aang, looking hurt.

"_Ugh_, I didn't mean to snap at you." she sighed apologetically while kneading her temples, "I'm just a bit disoriented."

"Is it because of the bending thing?"

"Yeah."

"Did it hurt?"

"Not really for three of the elements, it just feels kinda...you know...empty."

"What about the fourth?"

"That's waterbending. It's the only one that's uncomfortable."

"Why? What does it feel like?"

"Avatar," said a voice gravelly from behing, startling the two of them, "I would just like to remind you that you are a waterbender."

"_Waauh!_" yelled Aang, leaping about twenty feet into he air with a gust of wind that ruffled the visitor's three ponytails.

"Hello, uh, Yakone" acknowledged Korra stiffly.

"Greetings," he replied with a raised eyebrow, "Do you have all your things?"

"Well, I've got my staff, Appa's in the water, and I think I have all my clothes on!" replied Aang brightly, once he drifted back onto the deck.

"I was referring to the person who actually concerns herself with material possessions." replied Yakone dryly.

"Oh. Okay?" replied Aang with confusion.

Korra crossed her arms, "Well, I didn't exactly pack a suitcase before I got whizzed back here," she replied while avoiding eye contact, "So you don't have to, um, worry about it?"

_Sweet mother of Koh this is awkward._

Then she glanced past Yakone and saw Noatak, Tarrlok, and Hahn observing them while whispering and trying to hold back their laughter. Korra scowled and narrowed her eyes at them. Hahn met her gaze and wiggled his eyebrowes obnoxiously while elbowing Tarrlok and saying something that sounded suspiciousy like "_family now_" and "_your own girl._"

"Yakone sir! How is the new daughter-in-law?" yelled Hahn, "Can Tarrlok finally get over _my_ girl-_OW_!" he shouted as Tarrlok punched him in the arm.  
>"Hahn you asshole!"<br>"Tarrlok, make sure you say that when I'm not around." said Yakone sternly, "And young man," he said, turning with a grave face to a worried looking Hahn, "I find her very satisfactory." he finished with a smug glance at his vexed, scarlet-faced younger son.

Then he walked off to go talk to Pakku.

"Wow." said Korra, looking stunned, "I did not expect him to pull a joke like that."

"Why?" snipped Tarrlok, "What heineous crimes did my father commit in your little mind to make you think so lowly of him?"

"Well," she retorted aggressively, "He did set up a bloodbending gang and escaped prison and bloodbent the entire city court, police chief, and Avatar. Then he escaped and produced you two!"

"Well he didn't do that now! Minus the children producing part..."

"But he's still a smug bastard-"

At this, Tarrlok stepped forward and looked down at her, without a trace of any of the normal humor in his eyes. Instead, they burned with cold blue fire, but the rest of his face remained, perfectly, eerily expressionless.

Now, Korra was actually scared.

The person before her wasn't the cute, boyish Tarrlok who she had been seeing thus far; not the sly, overly cordial weasel snake politician. This was clower to the man after she smashed him through a wall and took away all his options for defense: the enraged, highly competent bloodbending criminal.

She stumbled backwards to the railing of the ship, on the brink of having a post traumatic stress attack, and trembled with terror, expecting to feel the blood freeze and flow against her will anytime now. Her heart sped up painfully and she looked up, aware of how much larger he was.

_In fact, he might even be taller than the old Tarrlok in Republic City..._

"Do not finish that sentence." he suddenly ground out flatly, "None of us are villains in this world. So you can either adapt, or find a way to get yourself back into your own timeline where all of us are nice and dead."

Then he turned tail and stalked away.

The three people left gaped and fell into a stunned silence.

"_Ooooh_..." jeered Hahn, breaking the silence, "You really ticked off your boyf-_uuff!_" he said, doubling over in pain when Korra punched him in the stomach and stomped off as well.

_Okay. That was a scary, but not as scary as if his brother approached me like that, but his brother is really short here so it will feel better unless he gets bloodbending back and that would really suck but what I said was still kind of true so it's not my fault for judging because I had a terrible life too so-_

Then, her internal rambling was cut off when a hand landed on her shoulder. "_Aah!_" she shrieked, jumping and turning around to see Noatak digging his finger into her shoulder with a pale hand.

"We are going to have a talk." promised Noatak in a voice with an uncanny resemblance to Amon's, steering her around to the back of the ship.

"What is your problem?" he snapped, "We are obviously not anything like the people you've had experience with. From what you said, we don't even look like them. Why are you so angry?"

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" she retorted, "I just lost my entire life, all my family and home, and all four of my elements for the second time. You think your loss of bending sucks? Well multiply it by four and you get me!"

"When we lost our bending, we were children who were fleeing into a frozen tundra. We had one angry, emotionally detached parent, and one parent who didn't find us worth the effort of living for." he replied with an oddly dispassionate voice, "And a group full of people who were slowly dying before our eyes as they starved or froze in the storms of the north. We didn't have time for feelings. We had to survive and move on."

"Well great for you. Sorry that I actually have time to dwell on my losses!"

"I'm not telling you to become a soulless spirit, I'm telling you to keep your mouth shut. If you want to complain about us, do it in the presence of your friends instead of my brother."

"Well...well..." she sputtered, "Well I'm not accepting you until you accept Mako!"

"Assuming that this is relevant, we are polite to your firebending friend. That is more than you have done for us."

"You're not polite to him. What was that whole '_I'm not sleeping with the firebender'_ thing on Appa about then?"

"It was a joke."

"It didn't sound like one."

"It would have looked like one if you bothered to observe Tarrlok face."

"Well-"

"Look." sighed Noatak, "We are in the middle of a war. You can either be our ally, or not to be. If you are not, we will not waste our energy fighting you, but we will not associate with you any more. If you're not with us, then you can leave."

"So, what?" she asked incredulously, "Are you asking me to choose or something?"

"Yes. This is your ultimatum. You can stand with us, _all of us_, including people you don't like, or go."

"I'll stay." snapped Korra, "Because it's the right thing."

"Don't expect any sympathy from our family. We've been through a lot more shit than you."

"You wanna bet?"

"No."

"Then-"

"I 'wanna' see you grow up." he said blandly before walking away.

Korra scowled and felt the urge to stick up her finger at his retreating back.

Then she sighed dejectedly and slumped down against the back of the docked ship as all the energy fled her body.

_What am I even doing? I have nothing. I am nothing here. Why don't I just die already? I wish I had my waterbending, it would be so easy to make something sharp..._

Suddenly, her dark train of thought ended when a tall shadow fell over her. Her head snapped up and met eye to eye with a very awkward looking Tarrlok who had reverted back to his 'cute' state of being. He rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably and offered a hand to help her up. Instead of taking it, Korra stood up on her own, and immediately felt a surge of guilt when his face fell.

"Hey," he started, looking agitated, "I kinda wanted to apologize for losing my temper at you earlier."

Korra stared at him incredulously.

_That calm controlled display was considered losing his temper?_

Misinterpreting her surprised expression, he frantically waved his hands in front of himself and said, "Please hear me out! I know you're probably not willing to forgive me yet, but I'm really sorry! I shouldn't have flaunted my height like that back there." he said, looking like a kicked polar puppy cub again, "And I shouldn't have told you to get back to your own timeline so insensiti-_Oof_." he puffed as hall the air exited his lungs.

Korra didn't know what compelled her to give him a hug, but he was just looking so ridiculously sad and anxious that she had to take some sort of action.

As she wrapped her arms around him, he froze in astonishment and she looked up in surprise as she felt how skinny he was. Even through all those layers of clothing, she could feel his rigid muscles and bones, his ribcage and abdominals expanding as he took a deep breath. When he looked back down at her, his mouth gaped in surprise and his thick eyebrows rose up comically high on his forehead. His arms hung uselessly at his sides a moment before he reciprocated.

"Erm, am I forgiven?" he asked with his arms resting awkwardly around her shoulders.

"Actually," she sighed, "I should be the one apologizing. I've been terribly close-minded about all of...this."

"Hangin' on too tightly to the future, huh?" he asked with a small smile.

"Haha...Yeah."

"You're alright now?"

"Yup."

"_Soooo_...this is awkward." he said releasing her with a tense laugh, "I should probably help them finish packing...you know..."

"Oh, uh, sure. And, I'll uh, see you...maybe?"

"Yep, see you around!" he said, walking away with a small wave.

After standing and staring at his retreating back listlessly for a few moments, Korra headed back to own ship. They would be leaving for Crescent Island soon, and she wanted to make sure everything was in order.

–

After about one and a half weeks and some very close calls with the Fire Nation Army, the Northern Water Tribe fleet was nearing it's destination. Korra walked above deck, gazing vacantly over the water. She, Mako, Bolin, were on one ship, the twins were with Katara and Aang on the second, and Noatak, Tarrlok, and the leaders of their expedition were on the leading ship.

Korra stared at the lead ship, replaying the hug over and over; it puzzled her how he could be so nice. Would he have been this way in her old world if he had an good father? Maybe it as better that the war had continued a while longer, or that they lost their bending. It seemed like these kinds of troubles brought out the best in their family.

Speaking of family, how was her own? Were they still alive? Did they still exist? What if she completely destroyed her own future? Then she would never see her parents again, or Naga, or Asami. Tenzin, Kya, Bumi, maybe some of those White Lotus guards, her uncle, Zuko, Katara would all be gone!

_Unless Aang and Katara get married again, which would be exceptionally awkward considering their age gap._

"Hey."

"_Aah!_" yelled Korra jumping when she suddenly heard Mako call her.

"Sorry to startle you." he said, reaching for her hand, "How have you been feeling recently?"

"Not too bad," _Actually, really confused, _"How are you?"

"Okay."

"Sorry that I've been neglecting to talk to you guys recently. I...really..." she whispered, "..."

"Korra," he said taking her gently by the shoulders, "Can we talk?"

"Of course." she replied

"There's something I've been wanting to tell you about that fight we had. I know I said it wasn't that bad, but that's not exactly true." he said, looking anxious, "I, um...I broke up with you."

"I remember." she said.

_ Thanks a lot tree of time. _she thought sarcastically, while thinking about the pain that she felt all over again._ You've made my life so peachy._

"But I thought you said you lost part of your memory?" asked Mako in confusion.

"I did, but being inside The Tree of Time brought it back." she sighed, "I'm sorry for blowing up at you."

"That's okay." he said, taking her hand, "I think we both said some things that we regret."

"But Mako," she asked in confusion, "Why didn't you just tell me the truth in the first place?"

"I know I should have but..." he sighed and ran his hand through his hair, "I didn't wanna hurt you all over again. I guess part of me wanted to forget about the breakup too."

"I think we both know that this..." she said, swallowing back her sadness, "_Us_...just doesn't work."

"You're probably right."

"It's over." she said, a tear escaping from her eyes, "For real this time."

"But I still want to try, Korra!" said Mako, cupping her face and staring deep into her eyes, "I think we have a second chance here! I can compromise now, without my job, that was the problem before. Don't you see? We have a clean slate."

"Mako..." she whispered, "I do...but I don't think I can continue anymore."

"Why? I love you Korra. I always will."

"I...I love you too, but I'm just, uh, kinda confused right now."

"_Is this about Tarrlok?_"

''What? No!" she replied indignantly.

_ At least, I don't think so._

"Because if it is, I understand." said Mako with false reassurance, "He is kinda sly, and knows how to get under people's skin-"

"He's not that bad!"

"What?" asked Mako a little suspiciously.

"I mean-"

"What happened? You _really_ disliked him before."

"Well, we've come to an...understanding?" she finished weakly.

"What happened?"

"I gave him an apology."

_and a hug, but you don't need to know that._

"For what?"

"I kind of insulted his father and made him really mad. And then Amo-_Noatak_ kind of told me some stuff, then Tarrlok apologized for losing his temper even though what I said was really rude and I kind of deserved it!" she said, voice rapidly crescendoing, "And he was so sad that I had to do something! I couldn't help it!"

"You're making it sound like you did more than just apologize..." said Mako, definitely suspicious now.

"Fine! I gave him a hug, okay?"

"Oh." stuttered Mako, looking slightly relieved, "Oh, that's not...I mean...I though you kissed him or something."

"What!" exclaimed Korra, trying to fight away the butterflies in her stomach from _not thinking about the lips of that weasel snake_, "Give me some credit! I don't just randomly kiss people!"

"Errrrm..._right_." he said sarcastically.

"Well, I had to make a move on **you** sometime! And you were really tall and attractive and had good leadership skills and confident!"

"I wasn't amicable though. Something you _constantly_ complained about."

"Yeah, if you were witty and outgoing, then you would be perfect but you wouldn't be Mako anymore!"

"You literally just described Tarrlok of this world."

"What! No! Why are you overthinking everything I say?"

"I'm telling the truth."

"You're being insecure!"

"Well _you're_ playing with everyone again!"

"What's that supposed to mean!?" shrieked Korra, infuriated.

"You played with Bolin to get to me, and now you're playing with me to get to Tarrlok!"

"I don't have to play with Tarrlok! He already liked me!"

"Are you implying something?" he shouted

"Yes! You're an idiot who should have been more decisive!" she snarled back, "You should have told me the truth, you should have told Asami the truth, and you should been something other than an unstable, self-pitying, excuse for a bad boy!"

"And you should have given me some space!" he yelled with sparks starting to crackle on his fingertips, "You are just a sheltered, immature, overbearing little girl!"

"Well you know what!" she snapped, moisture starting to blur her vision, "Sorry I have no social skills! Sorry that I got locked in a compound at the age of five to become a fuckin' Avatar! What's your excuse for being cold and detached all the time? And did you think I wanted it? I didn't! I had no choice! I didn't choose to be the trophy for a sleazy politician and a creepy, powerful revolutionary leader! I didn't choose to get my soul ripped to pieces and sent to this place by my own uncle! _I literally lost everything!_"

"Well you didn't have to grow up as an orphan! You didn't have to work your ass off as a little kid to support your naive little brother! You were just an overpriviledged brat! I mean, _having the best tutors alive for all four elements!?_ Do you know how useful that would have been for me? Who was constantly fighting for the two of our lives!? We had NOTHING! Not a single person gave a fuck about us because they thought we were just TWO LITTLE NOBODIES!"

"Do _you_ still not understand!?" she hissed, tears starting to overflow from her eyes, "You had nothing to lose except your job, Asami, and your brother! I had my entire family, Naga, my bending, MY SPIRIT DAMNED IDENTITY! _EVERYTHING_! I envy you! I wish I was nothing to begin with! Then it wouldn't be so painful to be nothing now!"

Korra breathed heavily from her passionate tirade, and immediately felt overwhelming guilt when she saw Mako's expressionless face.

_Nothing. You just said he was nothing. _

How could she do that? Mako meant everything to her; he had tried his best to support her. He said he loved her. What was wrong with her? Why would she just throw it all away?

One glance at Mako's face told her all she needed to see: the damage had been done.

"_No...no Mako,_" she said desperately, "I didn't mean that!" she pleaded as he turned away, "Mako, please!"

"Forget it." he muttered, turning his back and stalking away from her, "_It's over._"

She stared hopelessly at his tense angry shoulders. He went below deck and completely avoided her presence.

Now the tears really started to flow: huge, fat drops running down her cheeks and splattering onto the wooden deck below. She sniffed horrifically loud and turned to gaze back over the water. Where she saw the lead ship.

Right next to her's.

With none other than Tarrlok standing on the deck.

_Oh for the love of Yue, did this guy have to always see me when I'm unstable? _

She reached to bend away her tears, before realizing she had no waterbending yet again. Furiously, she scrubbed her face before glancing back over.

He cut an impressive sight, especially with his heavy arctic gear replaced by light clothing suited for the tropics. Seeing him staring at her with open concern, twin ponytails ruffling in the breeze, gave her a very uncomfortable feeling.

"What's wrong?" he called to her.

Korra shook her head stiffly and turned away, going below deck and hoping to clear her mind of anything related to emotions or the male gender.

–

a/n: I can hear the hearts of makorra fans shattering right now. (not) sorry!

BTWs, I'm into really strange pairings.

Review! Also, I started another fic called 'The Cactus Juice Chronicles.' go and vote on my poll to see which character I should write about first!

And review!


	21. A New Task

a/n: Okay, we left off where Korra was all depressed and confused, _(well, more so than usual)_ on the ships (_NWT Fleet_) on the way to take Aang to Crescent Island to meet Roku.

Also, this is the SOUTH's summer solstice. North's winter solstice. This means it's winter in the north, summer in the south. And I'm going to try and make everything from the north's POV 'cuz most english reading people live in the northern hemisphere :) enjoy!

–

A few hours later, the fleet arrived at Crescent Island and docked on the southwestern shore, behind the mountain range.

"This way, we'll stay out of sight of the temple! We'll be _stealthy._" said Aang excitedly.

"Hey Bozo!" said Tarrlok as the ships neared the stony sea cliff, "You wanna bend a little tunnel for us to hide our boats in?"

"Stop calling me that! And why don't I just bend a cave?" griped Bolin while assuming an earthbending stance, "It'll be a lot easier."

"We need a second way out. We don't want to get cornered in there."

"Ohhhh!" Bolin replied as he thrust his hands into the rocky mountainside, "Smart thinking!"

He shoved his palms into the rock, creating a spacious, watery tunnel. Then, he broke through from the inside of the rocky cliff, about a hundred meters beyond entrance, creating an emergency escape route.

"Thank you, Bolin." said Pakku, "We are extremely grateful to have a bender among us."

"Oh, _pfft_. No problem." he said, waving his hand flusteredly, "Helping people's my thing-"

"In fact," cut in Yakone, "You are going with Aang into the temple."

"Oh..._Oh man!_" exclaimed Bolin hopping from one foot to the other and rubbing his palms together in anticipation, "Oh man this is so exciting!"

"Yes. Risking your life is certainly exciting."

"_Yeah_! Will Mako and Korra come as well?"

"Mako will," decided Pakku, "As will Tarrlok, and Katara."

"Wait!" cried Korra, "Why am I not going?"

"We want as few people as possible, so we chose our most dangerous people. Having a firebender and earthbender is invaluable, Katara is very good at hand to hand combat. Tarrlok is a good strategist."

"Plus, us seasoned warriors are starting to get back pains!" said one of the older warriors jovially, "We aren't really fit to fight either! Don't take it too personally."

Korra stared stonily at the ground, and Aang went over to her, not sure if his presence would be a comfort or a distress.

"Korra?" he said tentatively, "It's okay, you'll get to do stuff with some more practice."

"Yeah...yeah. I suppose."

"You should rest." said Noatak to the squad going on the mission, causing Korra to look up longingly, "Tomorrow's the solstice, and you guys will be leaving in the afternoon."

–

On the early evening of the next day, Aang skipped up to a small ridge in front of the temple with Momo on his shoulders, peeking over the edge. "I don't see any guards." he noted

"The Fire Nation must have abandoned the temple when Avatar Roku died." figured Mako.

"It's almost sundown." said Aang, leaping lightly over the edge and scurrying towards the entrance of the temple. "We'd better hurry."

He led the group through an ornate archway and into the five tiered Pagoda and into a red, circular stone entrance hall.

"Whoa." he breathed, "This is really-"

"Wait..." whispered Tarrlok, cutting him off, "I think I heard something."

Aang whipped around and immediately relaxed when he saw five solemn, innocuous looking old men in red robes and funky hats.

"We are the Fire Sages." introduced one of the old men, stepping forwards, "Guardians of the temple of the Avatar."

Aang stepped forward excitedly, not noticing Tarrlok making a slicing motion across his neck in attempt to dissuade him.

"Great!" exclaimed Aang, "I am the Avatar."

The Fire Sage in the front gave him an flat look and bluntly said, "We know."

_Wait, they should be welcoming me! Not...getting into a fighting stance?_

"Run!" shouted Tarrlok as the five old men simultaneously shot out fireballs.

"You guys go ahead!" shouted Mako as he jumped in front and dispersed the barrage with a whirling fire shield, "Bolin and I will hold them off!"

Then, Bolin slammed his fist into the temple floor and created waves in the earth, knocking the old men to the ground. Then, he grabbed Mako and shoved him down a hallway after the rest of their group.

"Come on! We're good now!" he yelled to everyone while sealing the entrance of the hallway with a slab of rock.

Aang immediately took off down a hallway shouting, "Come on! Follow me!"

"Do you have any idea what you're doing?" called Tarrlok down the hallway, where Aang had reached a corner.

"Nope!" replied the avatar brightly as he careened around the corner, before abruptly stumbling back with a Fire Sage right on his tail.

"Wrong way!" he cried while shoving all of them away with his small, clammy hands.

"You moron!" yelled Tarrlok as they clumsily bumbled back down the hallway.

"Wait!" called the Fire Sage, "Come back!"

_Monkeyfeathersmonkeyfeathersmonkeyfeathers_! Aang swore internally as they whipped around the narrow winding hallways.

Actually, it was pretty fun, like playing tag with more risk. But he couldn't enjoy it because he didn't want his new friends to get hurt. And he had to meet Roku soon! He ran faster, hoping to find some sort of staircase to lead him higher up the building, but no such luck. Instead, they ran into a dead end.

Aang turned around and saw the Fire Sage starting to drive them into a corner.

_Aw POOP_.

He raised his staff and saw that the rest of his friends had done the same with their own weapons.

To his surprise, the Sage raised his hands above his head in a sign of surrender.

"I don't want to fight you." he said in a soft, raspy voice, "I am a friend."

"Uh, firebenders aren't our friends." snapped Katara.

Instead of responding, the Sage cautiously crept up to Aang and lowered himself in a deep bow. "I know why you're here, Avatar." he said

"You do?" queried Aang, deciding to believe this guy and relax his combatitive stance. He looked and saw his friends were not so trusting.

"Yes." replied the Sage, standing back up, "You wish to speak to Avatar Roku. I can take you to him."

"And how would you do that?" asked Tarrlok warily.

In response, the Sage reached out to rotate a lamp on the wall, revealing a small hole. He released a puff of flame into it, which flared into an outline the frame of a hidden door. Then the door slammed open to reveal a secret passage with stairs leading into darkness within the mountainside.

"This way!" said the Sage.

Katara frowned and gave it a dubious look, "Uh...We're not going into a confined space with a secret door, thank you very much."

Suddenly, Aang heard voices coming from the hallway behind the sage, _"find them!"_ hissed the voice of that first old Sage.

_Oh no!_

"Time is running out!" hissed the Sage with urgency, "Quickly!"

When the rest of the group still wouldn't trust the sage, Bolin said "Come on guys! I'm an earthbender; _caves are my thing!_ We can get out either way, and it would be nice to avoid those _super_ unfriendly Fire Sages right now!"

Finally, the group grudgingly conceded and slipped into the tunnel. The Fire Sage hastily flipped a lever to close the secret tunnel, right as the enemy sages arrived, looking around in confusion.

–

Tarrlok couldn't believe he was being so stupid and impulsive! He just abandoned all logic and followed the stupid twelve year old boy into a place that could have very well been a trap. But luckily, the kid happened to be right to trust this guy. Maybe he should be more naive too, spirits knew that would make his life easier.

Turning his thoughts away from self criticism, Tarrlok took inventory of his surroundings, staring with wonder at the rivulets of live, glowing magma. And Holy Tui and La was it hot too! It was the first time he had ever been anywhere near magma, and he was unused to the heat.

But somehow, none of the magma flowed even remotely close to the tunnels, which were long, winding, and deep underground. Then, when Tarrlok felt the path start to assent, the Fire Sage said, "Avatar Roku once called this temple his home. He formed these secret passages out of the magma."

"Did you know Avatar Roku?" asked Aang

"No." replied the Sage, "But my grandfather knew him. Many generations of Fire Sages guarded this temple long before me. We all have a strong spiritual connection to this place."

"Is that how you knew I was coming?"

"Actually, few weeks ago, an amazing thing occurred." replied the Sage earnestly, "The statue of Avatar Roku, its eyes began to glow!"

"That's when we were at the Air Temple." exclaimed Katara, "Avatar Roku's eyes were glowing there too!"

"At that moment, we knew you had returned to the world." said the sage reverently.

"If this is the Avatar's temple," asked Aang, scratching his shiny, tattooed head, "Then why did the Sages attack me?"

"Things have changed. In the past, the Sages were loyal only to the Avatar." said the Sage sadly, "When Roku died, the Sages eagerly awaited for the next Avatar to return. But he never came."

Aang stopped and slumped against the cave wall in shame, "They were waiting for me." he sighed.

"Hey, don't feel bad, you're only a hundred years late." said Bolin in a sad attempt at optimism.

Aang glared at him.

"They lost hope the Avatar would ever return. When Fire Lord Sozin began the war, my grandfather and the other Sages were forced to follow him." interrupted the Sage quickly, "I never wanted to serve the Fire Lord. When I learned you were coming, I knew I would have to betray the other Sages."

"Thank you for helping me." said Aang bowing at him.

"Excuse me," asked Tarrlok, "What was you're name again?"

"Shyu" he replied with a smile before gesturing to a spiral staircase, "We'll follow these stairs to the sanctuary. Once you're inside, wait for the light to hit Avatar Roku's statue. Only then will you be able to speak with him."

At the top of the staircase, Shyu lifted a slate on the ground cautiously before coming out and gesturing for the group to do the same. Then he took a look at a set of grand, ornate red double doors with five dragon heads sticking out, and he gasped, "_NO!_"

"Shyu, what's wrong?" asked Aang.

"The sanctuary doors, they're closed."

"Can't you just open them with firebending?" asked Bolin, "Like you opened that other door?"

"No." despaired Shyu, "Only a fully realized Avatar is powerful enough to open this door alone. Otherwise the Sages must open the doors together with five simultaneous fire blasts."

"Should I try?" asked Aang.

"No," replied Tarrlok contemplatively, "Five fire blasts, huh?" he asked rhetorically, face suddenly lighting up with an idea, "I think I can help you out!"

–

"This is a little trick I picked up from the men on the ship." said Tarrlok, holding a ball full of oil, tied off with a string like a bomb, "I seal the lamp oil inside an animal skin casing, Shyu lights the oil soaked twine and _tada_! Fake firebending!"

"Wow," said Katara, "You've really outdone yourself this time, Tarrlok."

"This might actually work." Shyu said hopefully, "But the Sages will hear the explosions, so as soon as they go off, you rush in." he said to Aang

Tarrlok finished tying up the last of the oil bombs, and stuffed one in each of the five dragon's mouths. Then he joined everyone behind the columns and plugged his ears in anticipation for the blowout.

"Its almost sunset." Katara said, turning to Aang, "Are you ready?"

"Definitely." said Aang, nodding confidently.

Shyu sent a small stream of fire past the five lion heads, igniting the dangling pieces of twine. Then, he hurried over and hid behind the column with the rest of the group. Tarrlok clenched his fists anxiously around his ears, and the twine sizzled slowly away...

Then **_BANG_!**

The bombs exploded and Aang flew over to the door, through the rapidly expanding cloud of smoke.

"They're still locked!" he shouted while tugging desperately on the handles.

"It didn't work." uttered Shyu dejectedly as Aang sank to his knees in front of the doors.

Then, Aang sprang up and started to furiously hurl blasts of air at the door,

"Why-"

**_whoosh_**,

"Won't it-"

**_whoosh_**,

"Open!?"

**_whoosh_**,

"_ARGH_!" he bellowed.

"Aang, stop it!" yelled Katara, jerking his arm back, "There's nothing else we can do!"

"I'm sorry I put you through all this for nothing." sighed Aang, hanging his head.

"I don't get it." muttered Tarrlok while examining the leftover soot, "That blast looked as strong as any firebending I've seen."

Suddenly, Katara's head snapped up. "Tarrlok!" she cried, "You're a genius!"

"Wait, how is he genius?" asked Aang sharply, "His plan didn't even work!"

"Come on Aang," sighed Tarrlok, "Let her dream."

"You're right. His plan didn't work..." she said excitedly while Tarrlok's face lit up in realization as well, "But it looks like it did!"

"Did the definition of "genius" change in the last hundred years?" asked Aang  
>snidely as everyone rushed to hide behind to pillars once more.<p>

–

"Hurry!" shouted Shyu as the other Fire Sages scurried into the room, "The Avatar has entered the sanctuary."

"How did he get in?" asked the lead Sage in disbelief.

"I don't know. But look at the scorch marks and down there!" he cried while pointing to the black residue from the oil bombs and two legged shadow moving behind the door.

"He's inside." said the head Sage, getting in front of the doors, "Open the doors immediately before he contacts Avatar Roku."

_Oh boy! This is working! _thought Aang as he perched behind a pillar, waiting for the doors to open. He watched as the Fire sages simultaneuosly shot five streams of fire at each dragon's mouth. Slowly, the doors inched open, releasing murky grey fog to reveal...

Momo.

The Fire Sage looked on in disbelief as the lemur sneezed and shook off the soot.

"It's the Avatar's lemur!" he hissed angrily," He must have crawled through the pipes! We've been tricked!"

Suddenly, Momo launched himself forwards and clawed at the lead Sage's eyes while Bolin trapped the rest of the Sages with earth cages and Mako blocked their fire blasts.

"Now, Aang!" shouted Shyu

"Aang! Now's your chance!" cried Katara as well.

Suddenly, a squad of fire nation soldiers burst into the room. "Close the doors!" exclaimed one of the men, "Quickly!"

Then, to Aang's horror, one the soldiers struck Bolin on the head with the butt end of his knife, knocking him out leaving a bloody gash. Another chained up Mako, Katara, Tarrlok, and Shyu. Aand quickly bent a ball of air around himself, throwing off the chains, and glanced at the rapidly shutting doors. Then he decided to help his friends escape instead.

Katara had other plans.

"GO!" she screamed at him, "WE'LL BE OKAY! _JUST GO AANG!_"

Aang nodded at her indecisively before dodged another fireblast and diving through through the crack in the door at the very last minute, almost catching his foot on the way in.

The doors slammed shut.

From inside, Aang heard a victorious shout of "He made it!" as well as an enraged roar and several more attempts to open the doors. He chewed on his thumbnail anxiously and hoped his friends were okay. Then, he turned to look at Roku.

"The light hits the statue and I talk to Roku." me muttered to himself, "So why isn't anything happening?"

When there was no response, Aang clasped his hands together and began to pace.

"Why isn't anything happening?" he repeated desperately, "I don't know what I'm doing! All I know is airbending! Please, Avatar Roku, talk to me!"

Aang stared, mesmerized as beam of red light reflecting from a gem on the opposite wall steadily grew closer and closer to Roku's face and eyes...until they began to glow.

Suddenly, in a flash of white light, the room suddenly filled up with glowing white mist. Aang looked around in surprise and found that he had been relocated to the peak of a mountain. Then from behind him he hear a voice.

"It's good to see you, Aang." It said as Aang whipped around and gawked at the venerable face of Avatar Roku, "What took you so long?"

Aang stared at him reverently for a long moment, then place his fist into his palm and bowed deeply.

"I had something very important to tell you, before, Aang. But now that time has passed and something new of urgency has come up."

"What was it before?" asked Aang, "What is it now?"

"Before, it was Sozin's comet." said Roku, showing Aang a vision of a fiery orange ball, like a burning star, shooting across the sky. "One hundred years ago, Fire Lord Sozin used that comet to begin the war. He and his firebending army harnessed its incredible power and dealt a deadly first strike against the other nations."

Aang's eyes reflected the comet's light as it disappeared over a mountain range and the vision faded. "So the comet made them stronger?"

"Yes. Stronger than you could even imagine."

"But that happened a hundred years ago." said Aang, puzzled, "What does the comet have to do with the war now?"

"Not as much as perhaps eight years ago when it returned a century after Sozin, but it did cause many strange things to occur in the spiritual energy of our solar system. Listen carefully." said Roku, "In our solar system, there are two primary spirits of water, the Moon, and Neptune. When Zhao killed the mortal form of the Moon spirit, the imbalance it caused was so great that the spirit of Neptune, who is a cousin to our very own Ocean spirit, changed it's path around Agni."

"But, why does this matter?"

"Neptune is now set on a collision course with the spirit of Pluto, which was the most mysterious, violent and unstable of all the Celestial Spirits. It is also the only spirit whose elemental association was undefined. However, when Sozin comet returned after the moon's stabalizing physical embodiment had been removed, Pluto had turned into an element of fire, and may spread inhumanity to other spirits in our solar system."

"What?" cried Aang, "When will it run into Neptune? What will happen?"

"Their orbits will intersect by the next summer solstice. If it collides with Neptune, who has such close relation to our ocean, it could cause water to completely vaporize from the face of our planet. If this happens, even the Avatar won't be able to restore balance to the world. Aang, you must return the moon back to the physical plane and subdue the fire nation's power over the rest of our world, lest Pluto's violent, sadistical nature spreads to the other beings of fire and overruns the universe."

"But..." spluttered Aang, feeling like his brain would explode from the sheer amount of information, "But I haven't even started learning waterbending, not to mention earth and fire!"

"Mastering the elements takes years of discipline and practice." said Roku sympathetically, "But if the world is to survive, you must do it by the next year's end."

Aang was horrified! How could he do it? It was such a big job for one twelve year old boy!

"What if I can't master all the elements in time?" he cried, "What if I fail?"

"I know you can do it Aang, for you have done it before." replied Roku sapienty, "The solstice is ending. We must go our separate ways...for now."

"But I won't be able to come back to the temple." fretted Aang, "What if I have questions? How will I talk to you?"

"I am a part of you. When you need to talk to me again, you will find a way." said Roku, before closing his eyes, and showing Aang a vision of the Fire Nation troops and his struggling friends, "A great danger awaits you at the temple. I can help you face the threat." he said, opening his glowing eyes, "But only if you are ready..."

Aang's arrows begin to glow and he felt Qi and power flooding through his veins. It was as if his entire being was one electrified outlet for all the pure energy of the universe.

Suddenly, his luminous eyes snapped open, meeting Roku's, as their spirits fused to become one. Light flooded out of his mouth as the voices of all the previous avatars inside of him replied in a collective, echoing voice...

**"_I'm ready._"**

–

Back outside, Tarrlok desperately tried to find a way out of this fiasco.

_Crap, our earthbender is comatose, out firebender has his hands behind his back, we're all tied up, and the Avatar is about to die. First real mission and I bomb it. Great. Fire nation prison, here I come..._

He watched in despair as a dozen soldiers surrounded the doors, which was beginning to glow. The lead soldier grins and raises his fist as mist begins to flood out of the crack under the door, "Ready..."

"No!" shrieked Katara as the light began to fade and the doors opened, revealing two eerie glowing eyes, "Aang!"

"**FIRE!**" bellowed the soldier as he and his crew all sent a long, blazing torrent of flame fueled at maximum power towards the figure coming out of the chamber. Tarrlok's hair billowed backwards from waved of heat coming out of the fireblasts, which was forming a sphere instead of burning Aang...Then suddenly, the flames dissapate for a moment as a random old guy sucked all the flames and heat from the camber into his own body.

Beside him, he heard Shyu gasp with reverence, "_Avatar Roku!_"

At the sound of his name, Roku, (_Or was it Aang?_) flung his hands outwards and sends a gust of flames and wind across the entire room. All the soldiers are knocked heavily to the ground, and the heat liquified the metal chains binding Tarrlok to the pillar.

When Tarrlok was free, he turned around and saw the gust of fire blasting through the wall behind them. Then, the traitor Fire Sages all ran away from Roku's furious glare as the entire temple rumbled on its foundations.

"Avatar Roku's going to destroy the temple!" cried Shyu, "We have to get out of here!"

"Not without Aang!" insisted Katara

"KATARA, _**HE'S THE FUCKING AVATAR!**_" bellowed Tarrlok as he clutched his head, completely losing his calm, "HE CAN TAKE CARE OF HIMSELF! _YOU GUYS CAN'T!_"

_Too late._..

Roku raised his hands, and glowing cracks ripped through the floor like a spiderweb. Then, the old Avatar drew his hands inwards, like he was pulling up a fishing line, except he was drawing out the _MAGMA_ underneath! Tarrlok gaped in amazement, momentarily forgetting that he was about to die.

Apparently, Bolin had a similar train of thought.

"Woaah! That guy's lavabending!" shouted the earthbender with a stupid grin as Roku raised his palms and caused gushes of glowing orange magma to erupt through the top of the pagoda.

"Bolin!" bellowed Mako, "It would be nice if you'd give us some protection!"

"Oh, _right_, right." he said, slapping himself on the forehead while bending a little cave to protect them from specks of flying lava.

Then as soon as it started, it stopped.

Tarrlok peeked out of the protective earth cave and saw that Roku had pulled all the heat and smoke from the room into a cocoon around himself. He heard one more deep breath before the smoke dissapated and an exhausted twelve year old boy stumbled forwards, eyes still tinged with whitish blue light.

Katara gasped and sprang forwards, catching him in her arms. Tarrlok also came out, searcing desperately for a way out of the temple that didn't involve being vaporized or falling down five stories out of a window.

_But obviously, Katara had more important things to do than help me_, he thought irritably while she and the others huddled around Aang.

"We got your back." said Mako to the exhausted Avatar.

"Thanks." replied Aang weakly, "Where's Shyu?"

"I don't know." said Katara looking away

Suddenly, the temple gave a massive lurch. "Oh no!" cried Aang as he struggled to stand up, "The temple's sinking!"

"Yes it is! So we should probably find a way out!" snapped Tarrlok, jumping over cracks to reach the staircase where Zhao's soldiers had come in. To his dismay, lava was gradually creeping over all of the steps.

He backed away warily, then whipped around and saw a tiny tunnel right next to the sanctuary doors that was not obscured by lava. "THERE!" he called pointing to the potential exit, "That looks like an exit! Let's get out of here!"

–

It turns out that going into random volcanic caverns in the middle of millenia old temples was not a smart idea. They were lost in a labyrinth of tunnels, with magma steadily chasing them from behind. And the magma was unstoppable! Bolin had put up barrier after barrier of stone, but it just kept melting through! Finally, when Tarrlok had given up all hope for survival, Mako pointed to a tiny speck of light.

"Look!" he shouted, "There's the end!"

Tarrlok whooped with joyous relief as they sprinted madly towards the exit. They were saved!

"WAAAH!" cried Bolin when he reached the end, hastily wrenching up a stone pillar to prevent himself from falling out of the exit...

Which was located on the side of a sheer cliff with jagged rocks and boiling ocean water below.

Bolin slammed full speed into his pillar, and Tarrlok slammed into Bolin, and Mako into him, and Katara into him, until they were all packed tightly together like bruised barnacle-crabs in a huddle.

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?" bellowed Tarrlok as his gaze whipped from this useless excuse for an exit, a hundred meters up the side of the cliff, to the boiling magma that was rushing closer _AND ABOUT TO SWALLOW THEM WHOLE!_

"Now what!?" yelled Mako, eyeing the fast-approaching lava with unadultured panic.

Suddenly, Bolin stared at the nearing lava vacuously for a long moment, before leaping right into its path and looking away with his eyes closed. The wave of boiling liquid rock crested over his head, and started to plunge downwards...

"**BOLIN!**" screamed Mako in terror.

But the wave wasn't crashing down and incinerating them at all.

_Am I dead yet? _questioned Tarrlok as he gazed blankly at the frozen orange liquid, held up by Bolin who had his eye squeezed shut and palms thrust out.

Then, Bolin let out a feeble yell and clenched his fists together, causing the lava to cool down and turn into a humongous, concave lump of black pumice.

"_Incredible_." stated Katara as Bolin gingerly cracked open his eyes, still frozen in his earhbending stance.

"You're a lavabender!" exclaimed Mako with pride.

"I..._I know?_" breathed Bolin a little hysterically, "I just found out, _haha...ha._"

"Nice going, Bozo." said Tarrlok with heartfelt gratitude causing Bolin to snap out of his shock gave him a small glare.

Then, his heart stopped when he saw Korra out side the cave and **she was flying**!

_Oh no, wait, she's on the sky bison. Okay, that made more sense._

"Hey," she asked, worridly giving them a look over, "You guys need a lift?"

"Yeah, thanks for coming now," said Mako a bit venemously, "After my little bro just defeated a volcano."

"Well I'm sorry I had to look for you." she snapped, "I can't exactly, ya know, stomp on the mountain to try and feel for you any more."

"I-"

"Can we get on the bison?" interrupted Katara with a bit annoyance.

"Oh. Yes," said Mako uncomfortably, "Sorry."

Tarrlok, Katara and Aang joined Korra on top of Appa, and Bolin and Mako were about to jump on when suddenly,

**_WHOOSH_!**

A fiery projectile suddenly struck the cliff right above the cavern where Bolin was trying to get on Appa.

"Aah!" he yelped, jumping back and stumbling into Mako.

"Oh no!" cried Aang as shale and fire rained down, causing Appa to panic and start flying away, "Back buddy! We've got to save them!"

"No!" yelled Mako when he spotted a bright red war balloon appear behind them, "Just leave!"

"We can still do this!" cried Korra desperately.

"Bolin!" commanded Tarrlok, "Launch yourself and Mako in the air! Using the rock!"

"On it!"

With one mighty stomp, Bolin and Mako flew into the air. Aang steered Appa underneath and was about to catch them when suddenly, the war balloon behind them launched a net and bagged the two of them in mid air.

"_NO!_" screamed Korra.

Then another net flew towards Appa, almost trapping him, until Aang blew it away with a vicious gust of wind.

"BURN THROUGH THE NET!" yelled Tarrlok.

"I CAN'T!" Mako bellowed back, watching with anxiety as Appa was almost snagged by another net, "It's made of metal!"

"LEAVE!" Bolin cried, "You have stuff to do! We'll be okay!"

"No..." said Aang feebly.

Then, Mako irritably punched a ball of fire at Appa to make him fly away. Appa roared in panic and dodged away, right as the war ballon readied another net.

"Would you just _fuckin' LEAVE!?_" roared Mako.

Korra gave them one last look of longing and anger and sadness.

"We'll rescue you, I promise." she swore before Appa flew high into the sky, leaving behind her two best friends.

–

"So...how did you get to us?" asked Katara as the group went to look for the rest of the fleet.

"Momo actually flew to me, and I was the only person who knew how to steer a sky bison, so I left to pick you guys up." she said, "When the rest of the crew realized the volcano was erupting, they took their ships and left. They said they'd wait for us at the southern bay of the Stone Fingers."

"Cool! Then we'll almost be at the North Pole."

"Yeah." replied Korra dully.

"Korra," said Tarrlok kindly, "It's okay. We will have many chances to rescue him after we bring back the moon. Just imagine, you'll be a master waterbender after that!"

"Yeah...I suppose."

"And besides, It wouldn't benefit anyone to panic-_**HOLY SPIRITS!**_" he cried as he looked down and saw the boats of his fleet burning up in the ocean below, "_Mother of..._we have to rescue them!"

"No!" said Katara, also seeing the captured ships. "That would be a suicide mission!"

"But...but my brother's down there!" he cried, "And my father! We have to help them!"

"No." sighed Aang, closing his eyes, "We have to bring back the Moon spirit. Roku told me that the balance of the universe depends on it!"

"But..."

"Tarrlok, many of them used to be master waterbenders." reasoned Katara, "They'll be okay. We'll be helping them all by returning the moon. They can break themselves out!"

Tarrlok wrung his hands together in terror, looking like he was on the verge of crying before he finally conceded and slumped back onto Appa's saddle. "Fine." he sighed dejectedly, "_Fine_."

With one final glance at the blackened, burned skeletons of the water tribe ships, the group flew off. Each stony faced. Each set upon their mission.

–

a/n: the reference I used for Roku's message, concerning astrology, can be found on my profile.

And review! What do you think of the new challenge for balance for Aang? How's the characterization? What do you like/dislike? What is confusing? I need feedback!

Also, I won't be updating for a super long time because I have midterms. Sorry bubs.

And does anyone even read these? Sometimes I actually put relevant information...


	22. Prison Conversations

a/n: hello y'all! Last chapter was *quite* crappy if I must say so myself. Stress relief from midterms! :p. Maybe I'll revise if I'm not to lazy...anyways, excuse my ramblings.

This takes place after Zuko and Haru were captured by the Fair Nation at the Sun Warrior Civilization.

Also, please note that Yakone is his actual chronological age in here. He looked considerably older than any of the Gaang during his trial, so I just assumed that he was about 15-20 years older than they were. (so if he had children earlier on, they could kind of been about the gaang's age.)

–

Zuko had been in the uncomfortable, cramped metal box for what felt like days before he felt a jolt signaling that the Fire Navy ship had finally landed. He nudged Haru and said, "We're here."

"Lovely." muttered the earthbender in return, "Welcome to the most secure, inescapable prison in the world."

"Hey, if it's any worse than the hunk of metal you were on before, I'll eat my dragon." Zuko snapped back.

"Please don't." replied Haru, "Seeing that little lizard crawl out of your mouth one time was disgusting enough."

As if insulted, the tiny baby dragon snarled and exhaled a tiny puff of fire at Haru.

"Aah!" yelled Haru, "Control that little fire monster!"

"_Hey! Shut up you two!_" yelled a soldier from the outside, banging on the wall of the metal box.

Suddenly, Zuko felt a lurch as their metal cell was picked up and dragged up a rocky hillside.

"Are we going up the volcano?"

"Yes." said Zuko, hiding a squealing, recalcitrant baby dragon into his mouth as a small slot opened up at the top of the metal box, revealing a pair of cruel, narrowed eyes.

"You will be put on a gondola soon. You are not to bend, talk, try to escape, or disobey any figure of authority." instructed the guard, glaring at the two of them. "After arriving, you will be disinfected and given prison clothing. _You_," he said, gleefully darting his cruel eyes towards Zuko, "Will probably have a _very_ nice little interrogation with the warden."

Then the little slot slammed shut and the front door of the cell whipped open.

Zuko stood up with his head held high and strutted onto the gondola with a venomous glare at his guard.

Haru got on after Zuko, and was followed by a couple of water tribe men, another firebender, and a solid metal box on wheels.

Zuko stared at the metal box curiously. _W__hat's so dangerous it needs to be kept in there?_ he wondered as the gondala took off.

"_**Hey!**_" called a surprisingly friendly voice from within the box, much to the alarm of the other firebender standing besides it, "_So_..." continued the voice, "_Where are we now?_"

"Silence." barked the guard

"_So '_Silence_' is the name of our new home, huh? I like it...has a dramatic ring-_"

"It's called the Boiling Rock," snapped the guard, "Now shut it, you stupid earth lout."

"_Ya know, you should really get a ladyfriend. I bet a she would mellow you down. Maybe one of the female guards! I mean, firebending women are pretty hot, right?_" said the person inside the box, causing the group of water tribe prisoners and the firebender to shake their heads in exasperation, "_Haha! That was a good one, wasn't it? Firelady, hot? Get it?_"

To Zuko's surprise, the guard actually blushed a little before he growled "I'll show you hot!" and deluged the box with fire.

"Bolin, would you stop making friends with the bad guys?" muttered the firebender as the earthbender inside started to speak again.

"_**Owowow!**_" cried the goofy voice inside the heated metal box, "_I'll stop talking! Sorry!_"

"Hey," whispered Haru while nudging Zuko. "That must be one really dangerous earthbender if they're keeping him in the box the entire time. Do you think he's being friendly just to disarm the soldiers..."

"Maybe." Zuko whispered back, "But I wonder how he knows the firebender..." Then, he noticed said firebender gaping at him with open admiration on his face.

This confused Zuko. What kind of a fire nation person would admire him, the fallen prince? Even a rebel shouldn't admire him. It's not like he'd done anything for either sides of the war; he kind of just hid out like a coward. And when Azula came to capture him from Ba Sing Se, he couldn't even help save Uncle, someone who did actually help the war.

_Sigh_. He really needed to clean up his act; he needed to help the world, and help save his own nation as well. Having too much power would harm Fire Nation's citizens more than it helped them. In fact, Uncle once said,

_There is a simple honor in poverty..._

How true that was! He'd learned the most important life lessons from being poor! The most important of all was the concept of a 'good' community, and a healthy family. Neither of which was prevalent in his world right now.

Suddenly, he was jolted out of his thoughts when the gondola bumped against the iron platform at the other side of the lake. All the prisoners were chained together to prevent any one individual from escaping, and the metal box was placed on a cart and put at the very end. Then, they were lead to a chamber that was lined first with wood on the outside, then with metal on the inside.

Then, the mysterious metal box was unlocked and the earthbender, a squat, stocky boy who looked barely over the age of sixteen, stumbled out and immedietly swept up his arms, making a constipated face.

"_Crap_," he muttered, "If only I could metalbend."

"Bro," said the other firebender as he whispered something in his ear.

_Wait, did he say 'bro?' Are those two brothers? But they bend different elements!_

Suddenly, the earthbender whipped around and gawked at him with immeasurable reverence.

"Oh...my gosh...holy badgermoles..." gasped the earthbender, excitedly poking his firebending brother on the shoulder, "_IT'S FIRE LORD ZUKO!_" he squeed while approaching a very apprehensive Zuko.

Then, the earthbender reached out a hand like he wanted to touch Zuko and confirm that he was indeed, real, "I can't believe it!" cried the earthbender, wringing his hands with excitement, "And he's like, close to our age!"

_Wait...fire LORD? Are they crazy fanatics who want me on the throne? And what do they mean "their age?" Did they think I would be a tiny baby or something? _

"Uh, forgive my brother." said the firebender while shoving aside the yelping earthbender and bowing, "Bolin and I are just really honored to meet you, sir."

"It's uh...a pleasure to meet you as well?" said Zuko as he dubiously returned the bow.

_Who the heck are these people?_

But before he could ask any questions, a prison guard walked into he room.

"Line'em up for the Warden!" commanded the man that the earthbender, _Bolin...was it?_, had been teasing earlier. Then, a cruel looking man with puffy lips and high cheekbones strode into the room.

_Must be the warden._

"Welcome to The Boiling Rock." he drawled, strolling down the line. "I'm sure you've all heard the horrible rumors about our little island." he said, grinning maliciously, "Well I just want to tell you that they don't have to be true. As long as you do everything I say." he finished, stopping just in front of Yakone, who was glaring at the ground with a black scowl.

"Look me in the eye when I'm talking to you." commanded the Warden

"No thanks."

"Getting smart, are we?" spat the Warden, lighting a small fire blade in his hands, "You'd best watch what comes out of your mouth, or else I might be tempted to burn it off, peasant. It would complete the the presents that our soldiers have given you in the past." said the Warden, trailing the flickering fire blade millimeters above the rest of the fifteen year old burn scars on the bloodbender's face.

Yakone curled his lips but said nothing.

"They are rather durable gifts, aren't they?" the Warden continued cruelly, "Just know that you deserve them. Those soldiers did the world a favor by eliminating your sad little village from the world."

"Well they failed." snapped a short waterbender standing next to the subject of the Warden's taunts, "We're still here."

The Warden narrowed his eyes at at the younger man, and seemed to have noted the resemblance between the two.

"You seemed to have let your vile offspring populate our world, eh?" said the Warden to Yakone, "It's allowed to stay...for now. NOW LOOK AT ME WHEN I SPEAK TO YOU!" roared the Warden suddenly.

When Yakone finally looked up, he eyes were eerie and half-lidded with pupils contracted to pinpoints. Then, after a few moments, his face became dejected and his eyes returned to normal again.

_What was that all about? _wondered Zuko.

"See? Isn't that better." simpered the Warden, who seemed to not notice anything off about his prisoner's eyes.

"You will all do as I say or pay the price." he continued pompously, turning his back to walk off, "You will all...uh!" he hissed as the younger waterbender spat on his back of his neck, much to the dismay of his father.

"You little bastard!" shouted the Warden, lunging forwards to split open the waterbender's shirt with a searing whip of flames. The cloth shriveled and fell open, exposing the long, angry-looking blistered burn, cutting diagonally from his shoulder to his hip.

The rest of the prisoners winced as the young waterbender doubled over in pain for a moment before he stood back up with his jaw clenched and a black scowl.

"Get these prisoners out of my sight!" snapped the Warden, looking down on the young waterbender a contemptuous sneer.

And with that, he swept out of the room once more.

–

Later that evening, the prisoners were let outside to eat their meals. Zuko absently scanned the metal courtyard, trying to find Haru while replaying his disturbing interview with the Warden earlier that day...

_"...well, well, well. I never thought I'd find you in here, Prince Zuko."_

_"How did you know who I am?"_

_"A little bird told me."_

_"Well that-"_

_"Quiet! You're my special prisoner now. And you best behave. If these criminals found out who you are, the traitor prince who let his nation down...why, they'd tear you to shreds."_

_"So what's in it for you? Why don't you just tell my Father and collect the reward!?"_

_"Oh ho ho...in due time believe me, I intend to collect. Hmahaha..."_

He was still jittery after it; though not because he was scared for his own life. It was because he had the dragon hidden in his prison uniform, and he couldn't allow anyone find out about it. The survival of an entire species, the first masters of firebending, laid in his hands! How ashamed he would be if he failed such an important task...

"Psst. Zuko!" hissed Haru from a dark shadowy corner on the metal compound.

Zuko jumped in surprise before slipping next to Haru. He noted that a couple prisoners from other nations were there as well. Including those two eccentric brothers. "Hey...Zuko here." he said awkwardly.

"Okay! So here's what I've gathered so far!" interrupted Haru excitedly, "This one's a m-"

"SHHHH! _Too loud!_" said another young water tribe man, who Zuko could've sworn was not on the gondola...

"Oh, sorry." whispered Haru, "Okay, so this guy's a magmabender! This girl's a metalbender! And this guy is a fucking genius!"

"Ah...that was over exaggerating it a little..." said the so-called '_fucking genius_.'

"Son!" called a voice from somewhere else in the courtyard, "I'd like you to meet someone!"

"Coming!" said the water tribesman as he left them and walked over to some other water tribe prisoners.

–

Meanwhile, Bolin was staring between Zuko and Toph, completely dumbstruck again. His brother sighed irritably and rotated Bolin's head to face him. "_Bolin._" he hissed, "None of these people are heroes yet! You have to treat them like everyone else does!"

"Mako...it's really hard to though..."

"Nobody here knows our story. And we can't let them; or else we'll be tortured into giving them information!"

"But I've Aang!" protested Bolin energetically, "And Katara! and Zuko! and Sokka! and _TOPH_." he grinned making a ridiculously excited face, "I mean, she's my hero! How can I not react?"

"I'm flattered," taunted Toph, "That some teenage fan-girl considerd me his hero."

"_Awww_...that was-"

"And please," she said, standing up, "Call me '_The Bandit._' I think my parents will disown me more than they already have if they found out I went to prison."

And with that, she marched away, leaving an irritable Mako, dejected Bolin, and very confused Zuko behind.

–

Meanwhile, introductions were being made between the two water tribes.

"Noatak," said Hakoda with a fond grin on his face, "The last time I saw you, your voice still cracked."

"And he was even runtier-"

"Father!" growled Noatak.

"Heheh."

"So...you're the legendary Noatak, huh?" asked Sokka as the two boys sauntered away.

"And you're the legendary _'__Meat, Sarcasm, and Boomerang'_ guy."

"Yes I am!" he replied cheerfully while looking down at Noatak, "Wow, you're kinda short."

"I realized."

"Yah know, when my father described you, he said you were the prickliest fourteen year old he had ever met."

"That's probably true."

_Silence_.

"Do you not know how to keep a chat going?" replied Sokka conversationally.

"No. You are just incredibly vapid."

"I second that!"

"_To-oph!_" whined Sokka dramatically, "I thought you were my friend!"

"Your sister was right when she said you would get along perfectly with Tarrlok." muttered Noatak.

"You've seen Katara?" asked Sokka, his face immediately sobering up, "How is she?"

"She hates being the chieftess."

"Well...it's only temporary!"

"Hmmm. And I thought that being thrown in an inescapable prison would have been quite permenant."

"Well think again." said Toph towards the ground with a smirk. "So Noatak, you know the two earthbenders you came in with?"

"What about them."

"They got locked in a metal cell with me, and Bolin, the one you've been travelling with, is a magmabender."

"WHAT!?" hissed Noatak, his apathetic facade finally breaking.

"What's going on down there?" bellowed one of the nearby guards.

"Oh...nothing." deadpanned Noatak, pokerface back in place, "We were discussing the creative usage of water tentac-"

"Okay! Okay! I don't need to know!" snapped the guard, turning away flustered.

"Heheh!" giggled Toph hysterically, "That was brilliant!"

"Ew." said Sokka, who was stubbornly trying (_and failing_) to keep a straight face.

"Okay, back on topic." said Noatak nonchalantly, "Bolin is a magmabender...and how is this relevant to our inescapable prison? Magmabending will not give us an escape route, it will simply incinerate us."

"Guess what else he said, mister grumpy,"

"Probably some really stupid pun."

"Other than that."

"Dunno."

"He was travelling with the Avatar, and they're bringing back the Moon!"

"We already knew he would..."

"Then, we'll escape." whispered Sokka, "None of the firebenders know this, other than the two that are our allies-"

"Wait, two? I thought Mako was the only one."

"Oh yeah, we forgot to mention, we got the banished Prince as well."

"Fire Lord Ozai's son who went missing for nine years?"

"What other banished prince is there?"

"..."

"Plus, we've got you and your father, who are both bloodbenders; we've got me, who can bend metal-"

"_What._ Oh and by the way, my father was injured too badly to bend anymore."

"How do you know?"

"He can't feel the moon."

"Aren't you jerkbenders unable feel the moon anyways? Since it's, you know...not here?"

"Yeah, but we can still feel the ocean spirit...which feels very angry, by the way. Without the moon to balance it out, it just feels like an angry firebender all the time. It's actually rather painful."

"See, that's why earth is the best element." said Toph smugly, still staring at the ground, "You can never _not_ have earth. Or else there's no planet at all! Although I must say, I feel pretty bad for you water tribers. My life would literally end if I lost my bending."

"Why...wait. Are you _blind!?_"

"Soooo perceptive. Yes I'm blind."

"Then How do you always know-"

"I see through the earth. I see through my feet."

"Oh."

"Yeah, yeah...it's amazing. Can we move on to our plan of escape now? If we play our cards right, we can get all the other Fire Nation prisoners to help us too!"

"Yes, why don't we just let the _entire_ prison know we're trying to escape." said Noatak while rolling his eyes, "That will work _great_, I'm sure."

"As long as we can get them to start a riot, they don't need to know."

"And what good will a riot do?"

"Distraction!"

"You two are such idealists."

"No, I am a pessimist. And realist, but that's beyong the point! This will definitely succeed."

"I mean, there are literally a dozen master water benders and a magma bender, in the middle of a lake in a volcano."

"So we're just going to waltz out of here."

"Yup."

"You're crazy."

"Well, we still have to wait until the Moon returns, of course."

"Okay. Whatever you say."

"Oh, by the way, how is your burn?"

"It hurts like fuck. Thank you, by the way, for making it the least significant of your concerns."

–

"So, Fire Lor-"

"**Li.**" he said insistently, "_Just_ Li."

"But..."

"What's wrong with you? Are you trying to get me discovered and murdured by all these notorious Fire Nation criminals?"

"Erm...sorry?"

"O_kay..._So your name is Bolin, and you are...?" sighed Zuko, looking at the other firebender.

"Mako."

"And we all know Haru."

"I'm Haru, by the way."

"So where are you from?"

"We are from the future."

"You're kidding."

"Nope. We are absolutely serious."

"But...how?"

"Spirity stuff."

"You'll have to be a bit more specific."

"Okay, so we were fighting the dark spirit of the world who fused with the future avatar's Uncle-"

"Wait, the Avatar cycle wasn't broken?"

"Nope. In fact, we were travelling with him until we got captured."

"Hang on, what nation is the current avatar from?"

"Air."

"WHAT!?" hissed Zuko with rage, "He has been around all this time? And he's just been hiding away like a coward!?"

"_Wellllll..._" said Bolin, "The Avatar is still a twelve year old."

"_..._So...So_..._okay. I don't follow."

"He got stuck in an iceberg for a hundred years."

"You've got to be joking."

"We're serious." said Mako, "Just ask any one of the Water Tribe warriors."

"So," said Haru, shifting the subject, "What have you'll been doing with the Avatar?"

"So far, we visited his old home, helped him meet his past life, and made plans to bring back the moon."

"Okay...That's definitely not what I expected."

"So how did you guys get here?" asked Mako.

"Well, my sister chased me out of Ba Sing Se, I ran into a desert and found a library and a nerdy professor, then we stole a pirate ship, then I sold all the stuff on the pirate ship and I bought a boat, then I got captured and put on a metal rig-"

"And locked in the same room as me!" interrupted Haru, "Then we went to a sun warrior civilization and Zuko, sorry _Li_ got crazy firebending powers from drag-_mmmf._"

"_Not here you moron! What if someone heard?_"

"Wait," whispered Mako, "_Dragons?_"

"_Yes!_ And don't let anyone find out!"

"How in the spirits did you manage to get a dragon?"

"I met two dragons and they hatched an egg."

"That's...a little lacking in details."

"Yeah. So? It's not relevant to the topic of escaping this spirit-forbidden hole."

"So, now what?" asked Bolin, "How are we going to escape?"

"That, my dear, is a great question." said Toph as she and two other water tribesmen sauntered up to them.

"Hi!" said Bolin excitedly, "Can I have your autograph?"

"_Bro_..." groaned Mako, slapping his forehead.

"Oh wait," said Bolin, "We don't have any paper."

"You're a pathetically oblivious moron." stated Noatak as he joined them as well.

Toph went up to Bolin and punched him in the arm.

"Ow! What was that for?" asked Bolin indignantly as he rubbed his bruised arm.

"My autograph. I'll give you a new one every day."

"Guys!" hissed Sokka suddenly as he scurried over to them, "We shouldn't all meet together at the same time! The guards will get suspicious!"

"They're already suspicious." said Noatak

"They'll get more suspicious."

"Sokka, get on with your point." interrupted Toph.

"Oh, yes." said Sokka, "You guys said the Avatar is going to bring back the moon, right?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, so the Moon will come back, then Toph will bust herself out and open the doors for all the prisoners via this fancy switch thing, then the water benders will freeze the lake, And we'll get out, yes?"

"That's very badly thought out."

"Well, we still need to iron out the details but, _okay_, how about this then: Toph tears out the metal boards, then the earthbenders trap all the guards, then we walk out on the frozen lake!"

"That-"

"It doesn't matter anyways," reasoned Mako, "We have boiling water and waterbenders surrounded by a lake; we definitely have enough ammo."

"How do you even know the avatar is going to succeed?" asked Zuko skeptically, "He's a twelve-year-old, right? He's just a child!"

"He was really scary when he went into the Avatar state though!" said Bolin, gesticulating wildly, "It was like all like, _WHOOSH!_ and _BAM!_ and there was wind, and magma and all sorts of crazy stuff! And besides, he did save the world where we came from, so he should be able to do it here, right?"

"I still-"

"RECESS OVER!" bellowed a voice on a loudspeaker, "PRISONERS RETURN TO YOUR CELLS."

"Okay, we have to go," said Sokka apologetically as he was swept away by the crowd, "But meet me again tomorrow! I have more people to introduce!"

–

Later, as Zuko headed back to his cell, dragon tucked safely under his shirt, he dared to dream about reclaiming his honor and throne for the first time in eight years. As dubious as he was about the group of eccentric people he had met today, they still made a strong impression. This was a group of people who could turn into revolutionaries, saviors from a world that could be consumed by fire. He could carry on all the good things that Uncle had done without him knowing. It was time.

It was time to free the innocent. It was time to restore the dragons and fight for balance and world peace. It was time to heal the wounds that his family had left on people all over the world. Zuko was ready now; he had matured much since the his banishment.

Now, he still had a long way to grow and a lot to achieve, but for the first time in over a decade, he could see the beginning of the end.

–

a/n: Okay, I was kind of testing a new style of writing that uses mainly dialogue, but I'm not sure it worked too well. Sorry that this is kind of a filler...

Also, I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed so far: Jokermask18, Yungsun, islamy96, Daxen123, Jrush2, Focusas, and stevenbodner. Thanks for sticking with me on my crappy first fic!


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